


The Devil's Road

by Maone



Category: Alarm für Cobra 11
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance, Supernatural Elements, Vampire AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:14:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26395498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maone/pseuds/Maone
Summary: Semir is a former human ressurected as a supernatural creature that consumes souls to survive, Merr, his companion and a soul collector follows him around day and night since his awakening. Semir moves to Cologne in attempt to try and live a normal life while still having access to the needed source, but unbeknown to him he stumbles into a territory of two vampiric clans.
Relationships: André Fux/Semir Gerkhan
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

It’s been early in the morning when Semir finally sat down at his desk and began working. For the past few weeks, he settled into a routine of working on his own. Frank, who’s been his partner prior to that, decided to quit unexpectedly and Semir was now doing the daily patrols by himself.

He was in the middle of filling out a request for repairs on his car after the last case when his companion decided she wasn’t entertained enough and began whistling to herself and circling over his head.

He tolerated it for a solid ten minutes before he was struggling to remember his own car’s plate number.

“Merr, stop it, I’m trying to concentrate,” he raised his eyes to the flying creature. The serpent-like being let out a low unhappy whistle.

Of course she'd be bored, but he needed to get the document finished before the lunch break or face the wrath of their secretary.

After a moment, there was another low whistle and Semir looked up again, Merr was now sticking her head down to stare at him while her tail wiggled left and right like one of an excited dog.

“No, we're not going out, we don't have anything to go with, that's what I'm trying to deal with,” Semir tapped the pen on the form laid out in front of him,” Besides, the new partner should be here soon, that should entertain you for a while.”

Merr whistled in a confusing tone, tilting her head.

“Who knows what sort of a guy he is, hopefully one that'll last.” 

He chuckled when the serpent hissed and landed on top of his table, staring at him.

“Frank wasn't that bad, come on Merr. Don't forget that his partner died," He reached out and let his companion wrap herself around his left arm, leaving her to slither her way up to his shoulder and lay her head down in the crook of his neck.

The serpent flicked her tongue and her pale blue glow eased into a comforting dimness, she closed her eyes and Semir resumed filing out the form before him.

Not much later there was a knock on the door and Semir offhandedly called out to enter, raising his head as it opened and a man walked in. 

There was an immediate powerful scent of an Alpha and with how few of them were at the station, it quickly caught Semir’s interest. The newcomer was a rather tall man with broad shoulders, short brown hair with a mild curl, piercing grey eyes and scruffy beard. Even the black suit with red wine shirt underneath and complimenting thin gold necklace encouraged Semir’s quick conviction that he was possibly looking at a male model of some sort.

“Hello,” the words snapped him out of his thoughts and he blinked, unaware that he hasn’t up to that point. 

“Oh, hello, sorry I’m just in the middle of-” he motioned to the document before him and realized Merr vanished from where she was resting around his neck,”...something.”

The grey eyes followed his line of sight,” I can see that, hope I’m not interrupting.”

“No, not at all,” Semir shook his head and stood up to shake hands with the newcomer. He opened his mouth to ask, but the other man was quicker.

“I'm Andre Fux,” The Alpha explained with a charming smile.”Your new partner.”

The Turk’s heart might have skipped a beat then but he chose to ignore it. Although he surprised himself at how quickly he felt attracted to the other man.

“Semir Gerkhan,” If he was staring at Andre more intensely than appropriate he couldn't help it. Did they tell Andre that he was an Omega? 

Could he tell?

From observing how the other man approached him so far, Semir wasn't sure whether Andre knew and just didn't mention it or his scent was too muted to be obvious to other humans. He hadn't come across any other Alphas besides his boss and a couple of individuals during his work. Engelhardt knew he was an Omega from his file, it was in his ID, the others simply didn't comment on it.

“Have you been working here for long?” Andre interrupted his thoughts and moved to sit in the opposing chair that used to belong to Frank, once he got comfortable, his grey-eyed gaze returned to Semir's and the Turk found himself oddly captivated.

“Two years,” He replied and returned to his seat, trying to shake the time inappropriate thoughts.“Worked at border security before this.”

Andre tapped his finger on the table, his eyes taking in the setup of the office.

“I see, a bit of a step up then.”

“I suppose you could say it didn’t take any convincing to take this job...What about you?” Semir asked in return. He felt warmth enveloping his right arm and glanced down to see the definite outline of his companion, very transparent, but definitely there.

“Taught self-defense at a police academy,” switching his attention back to Semir and the Turk couldn’t help himself, but feel a bit naked underneath the intent gaze.

“So this is your first time as a detective?” he went on to ask instead while Merr shifted from his left arm to the right one under the table until Semir felt her mending into the skin and warmth spreading through his body as she disappeared into her safe haven within his body.

Well, at least she wouldn’t be causing any trouble now.

Andre shrugged.

“Yeah, but I’ve been introduced to the basics, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.”

There was a moment of silence between them and Semir pursed his lips. 

“Depends on what kind of basics, that could be anything from filing a speeding ticket to running a car off the road”

The Alpha gave him an amused smile and Semir couldn’t help but copy it right back.

“Along those lines, I can handle myself.” 

“That’s good to hear, then...Want to have a look around the station?” He offered and Andre raised his eyes from where he was studying the various paperwork stacked on the table.

“Sure.”

Semir stood up and walked around the desk to stand beside his new partner, Andre rose to his feet and Semir’s line of sight ended around the other man’s chest area.

“Right,” Semir cleared his throat and turned to the door,” we might as well stop by Andrea’s office, I’ve gotta turn in the documents.” He reached over the table and grabbed the paper.

“What happened to your car anyway?” Andre asked before Semir made it out of the door, the Turk looked at him in surprise and glanced at the document in his hand.

“You’ve read it already? I just went over a speed bump a little bit roughly, it’s nothing serious, just the brakes are a bit iffy and it’s been kinda annoying.”

Andre raised an eyebrow, following his line of sight.

“You’ve been driving around with faulty brakes?”

Semir stared at him for a moment.

“A little bit yeah.” Realizing his slight error, he gave Andre a worried look. “Could you not mention that to the chief? She’s been ready to throw me through her window for a while, but I didn’t want to deal with paperwork.”

Andre shook his head with a chuckle.

“Nah, I won’t, don’t worry. I know my fair share of paperwork.”

“Paperwork and demonic bosses,” Semir added with a grin and walked through the door.

“Close enough,” Andre exhaled and followed him out of the office.

\------

Over the next several weeks it surprised Semir how natural Andre seemed to be in his new job. He expected his new partner to ask questions a lot more than he’s been in their first week of working together, but Andre behaved confidently and for the most part, Semir only had to tell him about things once for him to know what to do.

The other officers were just as impressed and the newcomer was gaining respect at such a rate Semir could have only dreamed of when he was in the same position.

Maybe it was just an Alpha thing, most Alphas were strong, reliable, competent, and good looking.

And oh boy, was Andre good looking. Semir was sure his partner must have seen him staring at him at least once, he wasn’t particularly subtle about it, but he really couldn’t help it. Merr unfortunately didn’t seem to be sharing his enthusiasm, still hiding whenever Andre was in sight and no matter how much Semir tried to coax her out, she wouldn’t budge. He’d have to do something about that later.

“They didn’t tell me that you were an Omega,” Andre said to him when they stopped by a restaurant for lunch. Semir raised his eyes from his coffee.

“Didn’t they?” He asked. “You’d think that’s the first thing they’d say to you as an Alpha.”

“No, they didn’t,” Andre said while stirring his own drink. “You don’t seem worried about it.” He leaned back comfortably into his chair, watching him once more with that piercing gaze.

“I’m not,” Semir affirmed, looking at him pointedly,” that is unless you’re trying to tell me I should. I haven’t used suppressants for a while.” 

Truth was, he didn’t use them at all, he had full control over the strength of his scent. Perks of being….whatever he was.

“Not at all, you’ve got nothing to worry about,” Andre retorted.”I just didn’t expect it from someone in this position.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Semir admitted.”It was more of luck that I got in, but I’ve been told that my scent is barely noticeable anyway.” 

“I don’t know about others, but I can smell it just fine,” The Alpha smiled briefly and lifted the drink to his lips.

“Ah well,” a bit embarrassed at how flustered Andre’s comment made him, Semir stirred his drink a little bit too quick, the liquid spilling over the coaster, he could feel his partner’s gaze practically burning into his being. “Good for you then.” 

“Good for me, yes” Andre agreed and placed his drink back on the table, “ By the way, Engelhardt mentioned I should have my own car soon.” Semir lifted his eyes.

“Already?” He wondered, quietly glad at the sudden change of subject, “It took months until I got my own when I joined, what are you getting?”

“Mercedes CLK.”

Semir wiped the spilled coffee with a nearby napkin.

“Not bad, Frank used to have the old C class, guess they’re upgrading.”

Andre leaned back in his chair.

“Did you get along with Frank? I’ve heard he left abruptly.”

“Yeah, he never told me why he left though,” Semir crumpled up the napkin and placed it on the coaster. “I figured he got tired of the job since his partner died.”

“I wasn’t aware that his partner died,” Andre said. Semir nodded.

“They shot him during a patrol. When I got recruited, his body was still at the morgue, so it was barely days, you can imagine he wasn’t too happy to see me.”

“How did you know the partner’s body was still at the morgue?” Andre pointed out, observing him silently.

“Well...that’s what Frank told me,” Semir shrugged, “ I figured it couldn’t have been long, there were still all of his things at the office, even the plaque on the door still had his name.”

“I see.” Picking up his drink and finishing the rest of it, Andre slowly moved to stand up. “Come on, we’ve still got the rest of our patrol to finish and this death talk isn’t gonna speed it up.”

Semir sighed and gulped down his lukewarm coffee. one quick glance downwards reminded him that Merr was still very much hiding.

\-----

Later that night when Semir returned home, Merr appeared only after the door to the small apartment finally shut close. Semir waved his hand and the door lock snapped shut, the small pale blue serpent glided her way from within his chest and began circling the narrow hallway.

Semir looked up.

“Why are you so afraid of him? I know that he can be intimidating at times, but it’s not like he can do anything to you.” He said to his companion and took off his shoes and jacket, he shivered when the coldness of the apartment touched his already cool skin and Merr reacted immediately, moving closer towards him until he felt warmth again.

“Thanks, guess I’ve been using my strength more than I should have,” he grumbled and moved to the living room, which wasn’t as much of a living room as it didn’t have a couch or a tv for that matter, just a small dining table and two wooden chairs.

It wasn’t the most charming or luxurious setup but living in the center of Cologne was expensive and his job didn’t pay that well, this was the best he could get after aiding Elif to settle at the edge of the city. 

One quick glance at the kitchen which was missing essentially everything but the countertop made him grateful that he didn’t need to eat as much as normal people did. It was unfortunate since he liked food, but nothing he could do about that.

His hunger was sadly too complex to be quenched with regular food.

Semir sat down on his bed. Since Merr hasn’t been doing much for the past few weeks, he had to get used to larger gaps between his regular feeds. Unfortunately, he hasn’t realized that he’d need to save up his strength and used his abilities as usual, so he’d end up drained much quicker.

He heard a sad whistle over his head and lowered the hand from his eyes to meet Merr’s red eyes studying him carefully.

She turned her head towards the window and then looked at him again.

Understanding what she was trying to say, he sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

“I don’t think I can let you out, you know once the cold hits you can’t fly too far.”

With another sad whistle, Merr lowered herself onto Semir’s shoulders and curled loosely around his neck, resting her head near his collarbone.

“Yeah, we should sort it out soon, I know.”

His silent companion only flicked her tongue and hissed quietly.

\-------

Getting out of the bed the next morning left him feeling more drained than when he got in it the night before, his body was beginning to throw red flags that he was really starting to run low on energy.

A week was his maximum of going on hunger strike. He’d rather not test that limit.

When Semir pulled up at the station an hour later, Andre was already waiting for him.

“You look like you had a long night,” Andre observed from where he stood by the entrance with his arms crossed and a smirk on his lips. Semir looked at him tiredly and felt Andre reach out and squeeze the nape of his neck, something he seemed to grow a liking to lately, but Semir didn’t mind. The warm touch felt comforting during such a cold morning.

“You could say that.” The Turk moved past him, scratching his arm irritatedly when Merr shifted restlessly underneath, still refusing to go out.

He could feel Andre’s burning stare at his back. He’d be glad if he got through the day without passing out behind the steering wheel later on. The fatigue was going to be irritating.

Maybe he should suggest to Andre to drive this time.

“What prevented you from having a good night’s sleep?” Semir heard his partner’s voice as they entered the station, the taller man shadowing him. The amusement in his tone made it apparent he was indicating the sort of entertainment that surpassed far beyond Semir’s capabilities at the moment, he barely dragged himself out of bed as it was.

“Not a loving embrace I’m afraid.” He replied, continuing on. He heard his partner chuckle behind him.

"That's unfortunate," Andre said, his voice somehow much closer than it was seconds ago, the tone of his voice made Semir look back once more only to find the taller man watching him intently as if there was more he might say but then Engelhardt stopped them halfway to the office.

“Good, you’re here.” She smiled and Andre bumped slightly into Semir’s back when the Turk stopped abruptly.

“Whatever it is chief, I didn’t do it.” He said quickly and Andre snorted.

“No Gerkhan, you’re not in trouble,” Engelhardt gave a dismissive wave of her hand.”I need you to head out to the highway, Bonrath and Herzberger are already at the scene.”

“What happened? An accident?” Semir asked curiously.

“You could say that,” she sighed,” Bonrath apparently pulled the Porsche behind a broken down driver and a truck driver wasn’t paying attention, so now your colleagues don’t have transport back and instead of one broken-down car, we’ve got three crashed ones. Bonrath hasn’t specified what state the Porsche’s in, but for his sake, I hope it’s repairable.”

“The new Porsche?” Andre whistled.”That’s gotta hurt.”

“Yes, so hurry along before they add any more to the number.” She ushered them back towards the door they just came from.

So hardly a minute after walking inside the station, they were back outside again.

“Hmm, eventful morning,” Andre said and lowered his gaze to Semir.

“Bit too eventful lately,” The Turk grumbled and started towards his car. Before he got close enough to the driver’s door, Andre snatched the car keys out of his hand and Semir looked up.

“I’ll drive, I’m sure you won’t mind.” 

Semir opened his mouth but promptly shut it again as Andre walked over and got in the driver’s seat.

“I guess I don’t mind.” Semir sighed defeatedly and opened the passenger door. He climbed in and looked over at his partner while they buckled their seatbelts.

“Not that I distrust you with my car, but be careful please,” Semir warned him.

“Don’t worry, little bird,” Andre smirked and started the car.

Semir stared at him in surprise at the sudden pet name, but Andre didn’t seem to dwell on it at all and focused on backing the car out without any correction needed.

\-----

Upon arrival, they were greeted with Bonrath’s miserable figure hunched over the wreckage that once used to be his Porsche. The car was crunched up like a piece of paper and any hope of salvaging it was crushed along with the metal.

“And I used to think my damaged brakes were an inconvenience.” Semir stared at the disaster ahead. Andre parked the car on the grass, not taking any chances and both men got out to observe the situation, Herzberger went to meet them.

“Is everyone alright?” Semir asked, looking around for the drivers of the crashed vehicles.

The older man nodded towards the truck.

“The truck driver suffered some minor injuries, but he seems to be more in shock than anything. Bonrath and I were out of the car when it happened fortunately, or we’d be a pancake.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Semir looked at Bonrath circling the Porsche,” How did it happen? The truck driver wasn’t paying attention?”

“He claims his steering is faulty, but I have my doubts about that,” Herzberger snorted,” I bet the guy fell into microsleep.” He looked at Bonrath with a sigh.” Engelhardt won’t let him live that one down.”

Semir felt a sudden itch under his skin, Merr was giving him a sign to be released.

“I’ll go take a look at the cargo, see if we need to bring a replacement transport in,” Semir informed his colleague and Herzberger left him be with a quick nod. Semir walked over to the truck, Andre only glanced at him and went over to investigate the status of the other occupants in the wreck.

As soon as he felt secure, he coaxed his companion until her little form appeared from within his arm and immediately headed inside the truck. Semir watched her curiously.

He walked over to the back and opened the load. It was dark inside, but Merr’s form quickly illuminated the contents when she began moving in circles and Semir’s suspicion only grew stronger. Blinking slowly, his vision now showed a bright white outline on the ground, he approached it carefully and pulled down the tarp that covered it and sure enough, it was a body, enveloped in a white light. He exhaled in relief and turned to his companion with a smile.

“Good job, Merr.” 

She whistled happily.

There was a flash of red in the corner of his eye, but when he turned all he could see were only the white outlines of his colleagues moving around. Uncertain whether his mind was playing tricks on him, he slowly blinked again and his vision returned back to normal all the while Merr was doing her collecting from the body beneath.

“What are you doing up there?” The voice made him jump and Merr promptly disappeared, abandoning her collecting efforts.

Semir turned to see Andre standing by the entrance to the truck, staring him down rather suspiciously.

“I...found a body.” The Turk gestured towards the tarp, it was really too dark to tell anything, so he wasn’t being very convincing, but regardless of that Andre quickly climbed in behind him and came to a stop beside him.

The Alpha knelt next to the body and threw the tarp away, revealing its full form. Semir shifted awkwardly beside him, looking for Merr while Andre’s attention was on the body. She must have gone through the floor of the truck in her panic.

“Hm, they didn’t put much effort into hiding it,” Andre noted and stood back up. He threw a quick glance at Semir and headed outside the truck again.”Are you alright? You look kinda startled.” He asked, pausing at the door.

“I’m fine, just...surprised, that’s all,” Semir explained, but his partner’s suspicious gaze didn’t falter and Semir cursed inwardly at his awful lying.

“I see,” Andre glanced at the corpse, then back at Semir,” I’ll go check on the driver.”

With that, he jumped out of the truck and called out to the other officers.

Semir quickly turned back to the corpse.

“Merr, come on up, quickly!” He hissed.

The small creature reappeared into the view and with affirmative hiss began circling the body again.

“I hate being the paranoid one here,” Semir kept an eye on the door.

Within moments Merr halted what she was doing and remained still as a glowing ball appeared from within the body underneath, slowly rising and settling right at the tendons beneath Merr’s head, locking in place.

The companion slowly glided over to her master and released the glowing ball in front of his chest until it moved on its own, disappearing within his chest. He sighed in content.

”Finally...Alright, let’s get out before I really start looking like a freak just hanging out here with a dead guy.”

Merr let out a low whistle in acknowledgment and disappeared once more.

As Semir jumped out of the truck, he heard Andre’s angry voice coming from a distance, when he walked around the truck he saw his partner pacing around in frustration and Herzberger looking at him helplessly.

“I couldn’t have known he’d bolt,” Herzberger argued to whatever Andre was yelling at him about.

“Goddamn it, he could be long gone by now!” Andre ran a hand through his hair and slammed the truck’s driver’s door shut.

“What’s going on?” Semir asked, approaching the duo, he saw Bonrath on the radio in their BMW, likely calling the new findings in.

“The truck driver’s gone, that’s what is going on,” Andre replied with irritation and glared at Herzberger. “Someone didn’t bother to check on him since the crash.”

The other officer frowned.

“I did check on him!” He defended,” He didn’t look like he’d be in any shape to run and where is he going to go anyway? The nearest gas station is ten kilometers away!”

“Shit,” Andre cursed under his breath, Semir watched him take out his phone and dial a number quickly. He walked out of earshot back towards the truck’s load.

Semir exchanged a confused look with Herzberger.

“Was the driver acting strange?” Semir asked his colleague, but Herzberger shook his head.

“Not at all, he seemed in genuine shock over what happened, in fact, I’ve seen him still in the driver’s seat only a few minutes ago and he showed no signs of wanting to leave.” 

“Couldn’t have gotten far then,” Semir said, not long after Andre returned.”We might still find him in the area.”

Andre shook his head.

“By the time we’d call anyone to look for him he might be long gone”

“We’ll have to setup a search for him anyway,” Semir said and looked at the crashed truck,” you would have thought he’d be more careful if he knows he’s driving around with a corpse, not crash right into a cop car.”

They heard their colleague call out.

“They should be here in ten minutes! Engelhardt wasn’t happy though.” Bonrath said as he came over to the group.”The truck was stolen five days ago.”

“How come we’re only hearing about it now?” Semir sighed and turned to his partner. “So it’s fair to assume our dead guy is the driver.”

“Yeah, probably.” Andre looked around the area and turned to Herzberger when the older man stared at Semir in surprise. “Yeah, there’s a corpse in the back of the truck.”

“Couldn’t you have said so when I called reinforcements? Now I have to call it in again-” Bonrath grumbled, already turning back to the car.

“That won’t be necessary, I already called them,” Andre replied plainly.

“Oh.”

“Want to get them here before our colleagues trample all over the evidence.” The Alpha explained.

“Hm,” Semir walked over to the front of the truck, looking at the damage curiously, Andre followed him quickly after.

“What?” He asked as Semir reached out to the smashed in leaking engine.

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a truck hit a pulled over car ahead so accurately. You’d think the damage would be on the right side if he just swerved.” Semir ran his finger over the bent mental, careful not to cut himself. “But this looks head on, without any scrapes on the side from the barrier.”

“You think it was intentional?” Andre suggested.

Semir frowned and took a step back, looking up at his partner.

“I don’t know, but it’s a bit weird for an accidental hit, that’s for sure.”

“We’ll see what the forensics team finds when they get here,” Andre checked his watch. “Should be here soon, let’s move everyone out of the way before we get another car to the pile.”

“The whole crash still seems weird to me, I can’t help it,” Semir said.

“You’re reading too much into it, little bird, lack of rest makes you paranoid,” Andre retorted and ran his hand down Semir's back reassuringly.

Semir felt Merr move underneath his skin restlessly once again.

“I suppose.” He sighed.

\------

They remained at the scene nearly until the evening, after the body’s been extracted from the truck they waited for a tow of the broken down vehicle which dragged for two hours due to the plugged up traffic. Semir noticed his partner seemed to be far more irritated over the entire ordeal than he was, but then again, Andre has shown to be quite the perfectionist when it came to getting things done with the Alpha was constantly walking around, checking what everyone was doing. When he was finally done and seemingly satisfied, he returned back to the car where Semir was waiting for him.

“You’re really in your element here,” the Turk said with a smile.

“What do you mean?” Andre asked when they got in the car. “Just making sure they don’t call us back because we missed something.” He said and started the engine.

“You’ve only been here for a couple of weeks and you’ve got people dancing to your tune already, it almost looks like you’ve been doing this job for years, I’m starting to worry you’ll out-cop me.” Semir chuckled.

At that Andre’s lips finally tugged with a smile of his own.

“Keeping people in line is all the same whether you’re a cop or a gym teacher.”

Semir raised an eyebrow.

“Well, remind me never to ask you for a lesson in self-defense then.”

“Why not?” Andre glanced at him with amusement. "I could take some time for you."

"Well, I’ll have to think about it,” Semir smiled and they were off.

\-----

They remained at the office until the reports of today’s happenings were finally finished, fortunately, they managed to put it together much quicker than if they had to write one each individually. During that time, Merr made no effort to leave, in fact, she seemed to be dozing off altogether, getting used to staying within him while they were at the station, so the time passed quicker than usual.

It was late when Semir finally stood out of his chair, stretching his limbs and looking up at the clock, seeing the little hand at nine o’clock.

“I’m heading home, do you want a lift?” he offered and Andre looked up from what he was reading.

“No I’m fine, thanks, you can go on ahead without me.” The Alpha said. Semir squinted at the paperwork surrounding his partner.

“Honestly Andre we could have done those tomorrow,” 

“By ‘we’ you mean yourself handing it to Andrea after an hour to finish it for us again? What are you going to bribe her with this time?” His partner raised an eyebrow. Semir rolled his eyes.

“Fine, spend a night here then if you’re gonna be that way.” 

Andre smirked.

“You always have the option to spend it here with me.”

Semir stared at him for several seconds and then couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

“Alright, alright, I’m leaving, your killer charm clearly knows no bounds.”

“Judging by your face, it’s clearly breaking through yours.” Andre watched him with amusement.

He observed as Semir’s entertainment slowly shifted into a much softer smile and a brief silence lingered between the two of them.

“Right...well, night,” he said at last.

“Night,” Andre parroted.

When the door closed behind him, Andre returned to his paperwork, he only got to the bottom of first page when his phone rang and he reached for it with mild annoyance.

“What is it, Tom?”

“ _They’re onto him_ . _We’re out of time_.”

\-----

On the way home, Merr finally reappeared and moved to lay on the passenger seat beside Semir, her faint glow illuminating the seat.

“Feeling better, huh? I think this one will last a couple of days for sure, you should be okay to leave the house tonight if you want to.” He smiled at his companion. Merr flicked her tongue with intrigue.

When he pulled up in front of the apartment building, it was already well over ten and most of the lights were out and the streets long-empty despite the unfavorable neighborhood he lived in. He locked the BMW and shoved his hands in his pockets, heading towards the apartment building, Merr gliding slowly behind him like a little lantern.

He barely approached the stairs of the building he lived in when he felt someone watching him and Merr hissed behind him, he turned around and saw his companion staring at something to their left and when he followed her line of sight, there was somebody standing there, staring at him.

Semir couldn’t tell who it was whatsoever, the figure stood outside the street lamp’s reach but very obviously watched him. The second Semir’s foot moved forward, the figure moved too, heading towards him. Semir’s brow furrowed, his instincts were screaming at him that he should move, something was seriously wrong about that person.

He glanced at his companion who was growing more and more restless, her tendons stretching in warning as her hiss switched from threatening to high pitched panicked whistle.

Not taking any chances, Semir blinked and as his vision shifted to his horror, the figure was very vividly _red_ as it grew closer and closer.

“Shit,” he muttered, looking around for an escape route.

He immediately bolted in the opposite direction and heard the footsteps quickly switching into a full-on run behind him.

Turning the nearest corner into an alley, he spotted a fire escape nearby and within moments forced the lock to snap open, opening up the access to the ladder beyond it, with one quick look behind him, he began to run up the stairs and barely two floors up already heard the metal bending violently underneath him as the figure jumped on it and closed the gap between them. Before the individual managed to grab Semir, the Turk instinctively kicked out and sent the opponent falling back down the metal stairs, with one quick move of his hand the rusted railings snapped off and barricaded the way up.

“Why a vampire, of all the goddamn things-” Semir hissed when he was sure his pursuer wouldn’t have an easy pass and resumed his climb.

As he finally made it to the roof, he was alerted by Merr once again and saw another figure coming up on the opposite side of the building.

“Another one?” Semir whined and looked around before running towards the neighboring roof and jumping over the small gap, the other vampire was already hot on his heels.

He humored the thought of shooting them, but he knew that wouldn’t be enough to kill them. Call it a personal experience, but he’d seen that interaction in the past as the third party and that was more than enough to convince him never to try it himself.

He only made it to the edge of this building when he felt hands grabbing for his arm and soon he was tackled to the ground with a pained yelp. The vampire held him down with an iron grip and Semir struggled in the hold, he tried to shift in the hold to see his attacker, but the arms pushing him down only increased the pressure, leaving him gasping.

“Got you.” The words made his blood run cold and he already felt breath against his throat when the weight was suddenly off of him and Semir turned on his back to see Merr’s tail wrapped around the vampire’s neck and dragging him away. He was about to thank his little companion when he realized that there were now two more figures standing in front of him, both holding a weapon and staring him down. He quickly shuffled back which triggered the two vampires to begin their charge, in last ditch effort Semir used his powers once more, ripping the weapons out of their hands and sending them falling over the edge of the roof. The motion took the both by surprise and they halted in their charge enough to miss the shadow creeping up behind them and Semir watched as yet another person appeared on the scene, however this time, the vampires were the ones under attack as the figure kicked one of the men’s legs from underneath him and punched the other one. As one of them recovered enough to strike at their attacker, another person struck them down once more and Semir heard the distinctive crunch of a bone breaking and the vampire howled in pain.

While the scuffle before him continued on, Semir backed himself against the ledge of the roof, looking for a way out of this mess.

“Hey watch out!” He heard a female shout and his head snapped towards the fighting group where the smallest of the new attackers rushed towards him, hands reaching out for him. Not knowing of what their intentions were and his survival instinct kicking in, Semir used his powers once more and forced the surprised woman back, sending her falling into the battling group. Taking that as an opportunity to get away, he turned towards the direction of the fire escape, ready to bolt.

Only to feel something hard connecting with the back of his head and he fell to the ground.

He only heard the frustrated ‘Fuck, get him! Get him!’ before whatever fate awaited him was enveloped by a complete darkness as he slipped into unconsciousness.

\----

The female vampire struggled to shake off her opponent when Semir collapsed to the ground, one of the attacking vampires hovering over him. When she saw him leaning down towards the fallen man, she fidgeted around her shoe until she felt for her knife holster and pulled out a combat knife, stabbing her opponent in the throat until he felt to the ground with a gurgling sound.

“Get him Eike! Shit!” Her partner hissed and delivered another hard hit to his opponent as he clawed at his legs when he tried to approach the fallen man.

“I’m trying!” She shot back, shaking off the incapacitated vampire and stumbling to her feet. However her efforts weren’t needed, as the vampire now leaning down over Semir was suddenly very much headless, his corpse falling to the side like a ragdoll as his head rolled to the fighting group. In a puff of black smoke a person appeared where the man stood moments ago.

“Nice save boss!” Eike called out cheerfully and shoved the bleeding vampire off of her to get up. Her partner shoved his own knife into the spine of his opponent and left him twitching on the ground, following his partner to the duo.

The vampire knelt by Semir’s unconscious form and checked his pulse as his companions approached.

“He’s alright, just knocked out.” He said finally.

“That thing following him disappeared.” Eike looked around, noting the lack of the serpent. “Have you seen the way he launched me in the air, Jacob? Didn’t even have to touch me!” 

“What are we going to do now sir?” Jacob turned his attention to the kneeling vampire. “More of them will probably come once those they sent already don’t report back.”

The vampire gently turned Semir’s unconscious form on the back and looked at him for a short moment.

“We could probably just put him to his apartment and clean this up and maybe-” 

“We’re taking him with us.”

Eike and Jacob both turned surprised eyes to their leader.

“Bring him with us? But sir, are you sure…” Jacob started, but was quickly silenced when their leader carefully gathered the unconscious man in his arms and moved towards the fire escape without giving his people a second look.

“Get rid of the bodies and meet me by the cars.” He ordered them.

They hesitated briefly but in the end, did as they were told, both muttering their worries even as they dragged the already skeletal remains of their opponents to the ledge to throw it into the bushes underneath. Vampiric bodies usually dissolved quickly after death and so they didn’t worry too much about the haphazard placement.

Moments later, they met their leader by the cars they arrived with as ordered and saw that he was seemingly serious about his idea, their target that they’ve spent weeks monitoring closely, carefully placed in the passenger’s seat of the black Audi.

Their leader rummaged through the passed out man’s pockets briefly until his fingers closed around a set of keys and Jacob caught them when they were thrown in his direction.

“Go to his place and grab his clothes Jacob, Eike’s going to take the BMW and follow me back.”

“I’m on it, sir.” Jacob nodded and left. Eike watched her leader shift Semir into a more comfortable position and shut the passenger door.

“Little guy is probably not going to be happy when he wakes up,” she muttered morosely and headed over to the BMW.

\-----

When Semir regained his consciousness, he felt like his head was going to explode. First thing he noticed different was the softness beneath him, he was sure he fell to a much harder, concrete ground when he was knocked out. As he forced his eyes open, he heard a quiet whistle and Merr appeared before his blurred vision. He blinked several times, adjusting to the strong light of the room he found himself in.

Pushing back the awful headache, he raised his head from where it rested on an unusually comfortable pillow. Quickly taking in his surroundings, he realized he wasn’t home, nowhere near it in fact. He was in a large and unusually luxurious decorated room with high ceilings.

Merr wrapped around his arm as he pushed himself up from the large bed, the velvet material so warm and comfortable against his hand, but all the more confusing to him. 

“Where the hell am I?” He muttered once he pushed himself to his feet and stumbled forward, the dizziness from his earlier ordeal still not fully over yet.

Rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head, Semir wandered towards one of the large windows and dragged the curtains open. It was still dark outside, but looking at the raising fog, it must have been nearing morning. Merr slithered up to his shoulder, hissing at him quietly as he took in the completely foreign surroundings. All he could recognize in the darkness were several lamp lights decorating a large courtyard surrounded by a tall stone wall and a metal gate double its size. In the circular road connecting to the one leading out of the gate he also spotted his car parked amongst the many others. There were no city lights anywhere and all Semir could see beyond the low fog was just darkness upon darkness as if they were somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

He couldn’t remember for the life of him anything beyond getting knocked out after getting attacked on the roof near his apartment by a group of vampires and now he found himself in some kind of estate who knows where-

Horrid realization overtook him.

Did they take him hostage? 

He’d spotted someone moving around the courtyard below, he blinked slowly until his vision shifted, his eyes turned bright golden color as they moved over the surroundings below.

Red.

Red everywhere.

The bright outlines of numerous vampires began appearing before his vision like a dozen warning lights, they moved all around him, outside and inside the building. He was completely surrounded by vampires. He stumbled back and looked around the room with terrifying fear building up within him.

He needed to get out, he knew what people like them were capable of. There was nothing reassuring about them not killing him after they got him, that could only mean much more horrifying outcome and the thought of it was only driving his desire to leave further. He snapped his attention towards the door, but saw too many of them moving about around the place, their outlines both above and below, god, how many of them were there?

He turned back to the window and glancing at his companion he approached the handless glass.

“Merr, look if there’s a way to get it open without breaking it.”

As her body became ethereal while moving through the glass, Semir kept checking on the door, brows furrowing in worry upon seeing a figure seemingly moving upwards as if on stairs and heading in his direction.

Feeling the urgency of the situation he began searching for a way to get the window open himself, sliding his hands along the sides of it, pressing against it, hoping to find a latch, the windows were obviously old, but they had to open them in the last century too somehow.

At least he heard a click and looked up, meeting Merr’s red eyes now poking through an opening in the window above the large one before him. He smiled at his companion.

“Good job, girl!” He whispered and began making his way up, using the decorative prolapses in the wall around the window as grip points. By this point he could hear the steps outside the room growing louder and increased his effort, just touching the opening when he heard a knock and the door handle move and with his heart racing, pulled himself up and through with unexpected strength, the adrenaline rushing through his veins giving him a boost.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! What are you doing?!” 

Jumping down on the narrow windowsill and only barely keeping his balance, Semir turned to the fast approaching vampire inside the room, the black haired man in a grey suit continued to shout at him and the startled expression on his face almost made Semir feel proud that he caught them by surprise, before the vampire could try to reach him somehow, Semir quickly began to move along the wall past the second window, the vampire on the other side moving to it.

“Get back here, are you crazy?!” He shouted at him and banged on the window in frustration, when Semir looked over the ledge, leaning dangerously close to it, the man shouted at someone behind him. “ Get out there before he falls!” Then he turned his attention back to Semir. “I promise nobody is going to hurt you, so please get back in here.” He tried pleading with him and much to the Turk’s surprise, the vampire actually started smashing the window open. Backing away from it, Semir knelt down, Merr hissing loudly above his head at the incoming threat. Looking over his shoulder for an alternative escape route, Semir saw the vampires moving fast now, all in the direction of the room he was in moments ago and the rest coming to a stop beneath him. By now the vampire in the room was stepping on the ledge of the window in front of him, his much taller form seemed a bit unstable on the much smaller ledge, but keeping his eyes on Semir with concern, the vampire knelt down just like him and reached his hand out towards him.

“Look, you really have nothing to be afraid of, you’re Semir, right? I’m Tom.” The vampire told him and carefully tried to inch closer, but Semir only backed further, until the back of his feet hung in empty air and he had to grab onto the stone wall to keep himself from falling. The motion made Tom jerk forward and Semir’s eyes began to glow gold, he frowned at the vampire.

“Stay away from me.” He warned.

Tom’s eyes shot towards Merr still hovering above Semir.

“Look, Andre brought you here after you got attacked, you know Andre? He’s your partner and he’s here too, so just come back inside and you can see for yourself-”

“Like hell I will!” Semir snapped and in the next split second Tom was thrown back with invisible force and Semir crawled past the now empty window, glancing inside to see the vampire groaning on the ground where his back made a dent in the wall. The female vampire from earlier ran to his aid and when their eyes met she quickly abandoned her fallen comrade, letting him fall back to the ground with a loud grunt and rushed to the window.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing little guy, we’re on the third floor!” She tried to grab him, but before she could, he dropped from the ledge, much to her startled shout. When she leaned out of the broken window, she couldn’t see him anywhere on the ground, but the guards below pointed somewhere below her.

“There he is!” The vampire shouted and the group on the ground attempted to make the climb to the second floor where Semir now knelt beside one of the decorative statues. However the moment they got near him, the window next to him exploded and shards of broken glass rained down upon the small group, causing them to look away. Semir used that opportunity to move around the corner of the ledge and climbed down the hanging vines to the bottom floor, dropping down on the grass and immediately bolting towards the manor’s garden which wasn’t as well lit and offered him more coverage than if he tried to run for it through the courtyard.

He could hear the frustrated shouts behind him as the vampires scrambled to follow him which only drove him on. He pondered over what the vampire introducing himself as Tom said, that Andre brought him there? How would they know his partner? He didn’t finish the thought as he found himself suddenly surrounded by the same vampires he was sure should have been far behind him by now, he stopped abruptly, his eyes glowing when they formed a smaller circle around him.

“You’re not helping yourself by doing this,” One of them said to him and as he reached out to Semir, Merr snapped her mouth, narrowly missing biting off the vampire’s fingers. It wasn’t long until Semir found his back pressed against one of the large walls surrounding the property, looking back at it in startelement before staring back at his captors, fear and desperation rising within as they continued to grow closer.

“Look at him, he’s scared now,” Another vampire snarled as Semir’s eyes darted from one to the other, looking like a cornered animal, the vampire gritted his teeth “Maybe you should have listened when you were told to stay put.”

“Leave him be, Frank,” the female vampire snapped at her companion and turned her attention to Semir, her features softening despite her bright red eyes, “We don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then let me leave!” Semir shot back, pressing his back tighter against the wall.

The female vampire opened her mouth to reason once again, but the one called Frank pushed her out of the way and got right in Semir’s face, despite Merr’s warning hiss, he smacked the serpent out of the way even as she snapped at him.

“And where do you think you’ll go, hm?” Frank spat, staring the smaller man down like nothing more than a wild animal.”Are you up for a ten kilometer hike back to the city? Good luck squirt.”

When he reached out to grab Semir by the arm, the Turk’s eyes glowed warningly and Frank was shoved right back, falling into the group of vampires behind him. He got up immediately and despite the warning shouts of his companions, lashed out at the smaller man, catching him off guard and punching him hard into his jaw, the force of the hit slamming Semir’s head against the stone wall. He fell to his knees and raised his hand to his now bruised and bleeding lips. Before the other vampires managed to grab Frank, he was sent flying back even further this time, Semir was aware that wasn’t probably the best choice of action, but he just wanted them to leave him alone. He watched the aggressive vampire jump back to his feet, shoving the others out of his way as they tried to assist him and march right back to Semir, spitting to the side.

“Frank, leave him alone, Andre said-” The female started again, but Frank shoved her away roughly, staring right at Semir.

“I don’t give a fuck if he likes him, he’s not my boss and if you think I’m going to-”

“You’re going to do what, Frank?” A familiar voice interrupted the angry vampire’s rant and everybody, including Semir, turned their attention towards it and Semir’s eyes widened in shock when he recognized his partner.

Still wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday when they last spoke in the office. but the playful smirk was now replaced with stone cold glare. Speechless with disbelief, Semir’s hand dropped from his cheek as he stared at the man he spent the several past weeks working with, joked with, entrusted his life to. The man that made him blush like a schoolgirl last night was now standing surrounded by red eyed vampires and didn’t even bat an eyelash.

Semir didn’t believe a word they said, there was no way his partner was a vampire, he was with him the whole time, they both ate normal food and ate normal drinks and dozed off and..

Their eyes met and the familiar grey eyed look was missing.

There was nothing but red, Semir blinked slowly even as his heart sank with the devastating realization and only saw a red outline, not a white one as he hoped for.

Andre slowly approached him, with Tom limping in tow.  
  
“Be careful, he likes to throw people around.” The vampire told him with a wince, rubbing at his lower back.

But as much as Semir’s instinct and Merr tried to warn him to protect himself like he had up to this point, seeing Andre in the circle of bloodthirsty murderers, staring at him with those cold unfamiliar eyes and lack of any smile on his lips, there was nothing but dread within him.

As the others parted to make a way for Andre, Semir watched as his partner became enveloped in a black smoke and the redness of his eyes grew in intensity.

Merr hissed at the approaching vampire, but the moment he shifted his attention to her, she retreated and wrapped around Semir’s shoulders, as if afraid of him herself.

Merr was never afraid of anyone.

 _So that’s why she kept hiding from the day Andre arrived_ , Semir swallowed tightly. He should have paid more attention to her then.

Despite the futile situation, his eyes began to glow once more.

“Watch out Andre, he’s gonna do it again.” He heard Tom’s warning as he pushed himself away from the wall and stumbled away from his approaching partner.

Andre’s gaze shifted and his steps came to a halt. Dimly aware that his powers stood no chance against such a large group of vampires, Semir figured he might as well put everything into his last stand.

The metal stakes of a nearby fence began to quiver, attracting the vampires’ attention and within seconds the group was scattering as the stakes came loose and launched in their direction.

Andre only narrowly grabbed the still limping Tom and pushed him out of the way of one of the oncoming projectiles, the vampire wheezed when his already bruised back hit the hard tiled ground.

“I don’t know if there’s any point to this Andre, he’s clearly not listening to us!”

Andre watched as Semir shifted his attention to another sharp object in the garden and within seconds the statue’s weapon began to come loose in its hold.

He moved then.

As Semir guided the weapon towards the regrouping vampires, still shouting at him, he noticed black smoke slowly spread out behind him, before he had any time to react, there was a hand placed over his eyes and another firmly on his throat, forcing it to the side. The weapon dropped to the ground with a clank and Semir heard Merr’s screech seconds before he felt teeth sinking into his scenting gland and screamed.

Then there was dead silence.

Tom slowly raised himself from the ground and approached the black smoke with the rest of the vampires moving along behind him.

When the smoke dissolved, they saw the two men standing in place unmoving. Andre kept his hand over Semir’s eyes, but pulled away from his neck moments later leaving a large red mark. The smaller man breathed heavily, but was no longer resisting Andre’s hold, even as the vampire’s hand moved away from his throat.

“Give me something to cover his eyes with,” Andre ordered the group, keeping his eyes on his captive.

The female vampire quickly obliged and roughly tugged off her companion’s black scarf from his neck, throwing it to Andre who caught it with his free hand and swiftly tied it around the dazed man’s eyes.

“There, that should put a stop to any more unwanted projectiles.” Andre ensured the scarf was secured in place and wrapped his hand around the smaller man’s bicep.

Tom frowned at the sudden shift of Semir’s attitude as he now stood there obediently without a word.

“You marked him?” He asked seriously, but Andre shook his head.

“I didn’t bite down hard enough for a mark, he’s just incapacitated for a short while,” He looked the stunned man over to check for any other injuries beside his split lip and was satisfied to find none,”Whatever he is, the Omega in him is still reacting as it should.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” Tom sighed and Andre looked at him.

“You alright? I saw the dent you left in the wall upstairs.” He asked.

“Yeah, that caught me by surprise,” Tom laughed, “I’m fine, just sore. For such a little guy he completely wrecked the place.” He noted, looking around at the scattered metal pieces randomly protruding from dirt, decorative bushes and the gaps in their stone walls. “Maybe give me a heads up next time, brother.”

Andre pursed his lips as he observed the carnage too, which the other vampires already began cleaning up, Eike and Jacob simultaneously trying to pull free one of the metal rods out of the wall before it came loose and sent them both tumbling to the ground with a surprised yelp.

“I didn’t expect it either, but should have figured he wouldn’t be a fan of vampires since they attacked him...Can you get the room fixed while I have a talk with the little bird?” Andre nodded to the still form beside him.

Tom sighed.

“Just don’t let him break anything else, I don’t think our accountant could handle any more of that.”

“Right, come on, let’s go back to the house,” Andre’s eyes briefly flashed red as he looked at Semir and the shorter man began to walk obediently. As they walked past Frank, Andre paused briefly and grabbed the vampire’s arm, getting his attention.

“Don’t think I’m going to ignore what you said and did back there, I have no problem with reminding you where you could have been had it not been for my clan, I can still easily take that away from you,” He snarled and pushed the vampire away. Resuming his walk back to the manor with Semir. 

Frank watched him silently and with a quiet huff turned away to resume with the cleanup.

\---

Andre moved away from the window of his office with a frustrated exhale, sun was already well on the horizon and the fog began to lift, he turned to where Semir was seated on a chair opposite of his desk, the scarf still tightly wrapped around his eyes and his hands freely resting in his lap.

Merr kept tugging at the scarf every now and then, but couldn’t get it off, seemingly much weaker than she was before when she could easily drag a full grown man across the ground.

Seeing Semir’s fingers randomly clutching at the fabric of his pants, Andre walked over to lean against the front of his desk mere steps from his partner, observing him.

“I get that you’re upset, but you didn’t leave me any other choice, you tried to kill my people,” he said after a moment.

He received no reply.

“Do you remember getting attacked yesterday?” Andre continued on, “That was the clan of Brujah, Cologne falls under their territory. Ours is the outer line of it, all the villages, forests, roads and highways. The police station we both work at is in there too. I think it’s only fair to tell you that your previous partner didn’t leave for no reason as you think, I’m actually surprised that you didn’t recognize him in the garden.”

Semir raised his head in Andre’s direction at that and despite the lack of the brown eyes, the parted lips expressed his shock well enough.

“He was meant to observe you and the thing following you around, make sure you wouldn’t cause problems in our territory, but then Brujah caught onto you and I stepped in instead. But I can’t say I know any better what you are, or what is it exactly you withdraw from the bodies, like the one yesterday.” Andre crossed his arms, watching Semir turn his head away and bite his lower lip, clearly upset.

Andre ran a hand down his face with a sigh, that’s not what he meant to do.

“Look, nobody’s going to kill you, I’ve been around you long enough to not have a problem with you being in our territory, I’d just like to know what we are dealing with here.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me from the start if that’s all you wanted from me?” Semir spoke out at last, his voice heavy with disappointment and sadness,” Why go such a length to make me think….” Andre watched him with a concerned frown when he cut himself off. He watched his partner swallow as he composed himself and straightened up in the chair.

“Souls,” he resumed then,”that’s what I’m getting from the bodies. As to what I am,” he shrugged,” can’t help you with that, I don’t know, I just woke up one day five years ago in a shallow grave with Merr, she collects the souls for me,” he pointed vaguely at his companion wrapped around his shoulders. “I don’t kill people for them if you’re concerned about that, don’t like killing. I only came to Cologne because I wanted to try and have a normal life here, but that’s apparently not going to happen.”

When he lowered his head, Andre took that as him being finished and pushed himself away from the desk, approaching his partner slowly.

“First of all, we’ve seen a while ago how explaining things to you goes, you’ve been told repeatedly that nobody’s going to hurt you and still attacked us, so you can’t blame me for not bringing it up outright. Secondly, what makes you think I’ve done anything to trick you? I brought you here to keep you safe, why would I do that if I didn’t care? Thirdly, you're anything but normal,” The Alpha argued, staring at Semir in disbelief.

“At least I try to fit in, it worked for five years anyway...Can you take that thing off my face, please? When are you going to let me leave?” Semir shifted in his seat uncomfortably and Andre let out a frustrated growl.

“And where exactly do you want to go, Semir? Back to the apartment where you could have died last night if it hadn't been for us?"You know what? Fine,” Andre reached out and unfastened the scarf, pulling it off forcefully and Semir squinted at the sudden bright light replacing the darkness before his eyes up till this point. Andre threw the scarf to the ground and stalked back towards his desk. “If this is how you’re going to be about this, then feel free to leave, Jacob probably still left your things in his car, your BMW is in the courtyard so here,” Semir caught the keys Andre tossed in his direction, “I wanted to help you, but I’m not going to force you to stay.”

Semir stared at the keys and heavy silence hung between them, Andre’s back now turned to his, the vampire’s anger still lingering in the air in his heavy Alpha scent.

Raising to his feet, Semir clutched the keys in his hands and glanced at the door and took several steps towards it before turning around to look at his partner.

“...Are we still going to work together?” He asked after a brief moment of hesitation.

Andre snorted.

“You’ve got an entire clan of murderous vampires onto you and you care about whether or not are we still going to _work together?_ ” He turned to the smaller man, shaking his head at the absurdity of it.

“If...I do stay here--” When Semir’s expression shifted with thought, Andre's attention perked up as Semir continued. “I just want to know that if I stay here whether you’ll leave like Frank or keep being my partner, because I don't know if I like the idea of getting used to a third vampire.”

At his words, Andre’s features softened.

“Although I've got more than enough to keep myself busy with here, two cops quitting in a span of a couple of months wouldn't look good--So, you'll stay then?” He asked to make sure.

“Yeah, I’ll stay. I probably wouldn't last long in the city by myself if they're after me,” Semir sighed and threw the keys back to him, Andre caught them quickly and looked at his partner with a mild smile now.“And besides, nobody else is going to tolerate your crappy moods as well as I can.”

Andre barked out a laugh at that.

“You want to start talking crappy moods, you should start with a mirror first, little bird.” He retorted.

"Oh shut up, you'd be bored to death without my witty humor," Semir walked to stand beside his partner and both watched the sunrise over the trees surrounding the manor.

“Thank you, by the way…” Semir’s words breaking the silence after a moment dragged the vampire’s attention to him once more.

Semir kept his eyes firmly on the scenery ahead of them, despite the eyes next to him very firmly set on him.

“For saving my neck yesterday and I’m--sorry about the damage.” Andre raised his eyebrows when the Turk rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Reaching over to rest his hand on top of Semir’s on the nape of his neck and putting a halt to the nervous motion, Andre smirked.

“Save that for my brother, he’s the one you made a dent in the wall with.”

Semir pulled his hand back and turned to Andre with a wince.

“That was your _brother_? You look nothing alike.”

“Yeah, we get that often” Andre affirmed,

"Well, still, I didn't mean to put him through a wall, honestly."

”Don’t worry, he’s durable, at least it’ll remind him to work out more and stop going on so many pleasure rides.” The Alpha assured him.

That seemingly caught Semir’s attention.

“Really? What does he drive?” He asked with a little bit too much enthusiasm.

Andre looked to the ceiling with a silent plea, not another racing maniac in this house.


	2. Chapter 2

A frequented night club Bali was particularly busy this night, so when two men with unusually yellow eyes pushed through drunken and ecstasy drugged crowd, nobody paid them any attention. The flashing lights and thundering beat of music distracted any mortal from noticing the breath of death following in their wake.

The two men of medium build made their way up a short flight of stairs to a private lounge, their long black coats hiding the short blades each of them individually carried at their side. They exchanged wary looks with the bodyguard waiting at the top before the man moved aside and let them through to the room.

Inside stood an older woman in her fifties with a younger man with slicked-back short hair standing at her side, the woman had been none other than Juniu Ben, current leader of the clan Brujah holding Cologne under their domain. Once the two men entered the room, Juniu abandoned her drink and approached the duo, looking them up and down.

They stood still like two statues while she did so, whether out of fear or respect to the elder vampire.

After a short moment, Juniu scrunched up her face in displeasure and turned around.

“Don’t even bother saying it, you didn’t get him, I can smell it on you.” She said, picking up her drink once more and downing the strong liquid in a quick gulp that would send any other human gagging, but vampires were known the stakes of their limits on a much higher branch.

The taller man of the two nodded and hung his head.

“We sent four of our guys ahead to make the pickup, but by the time the rest of us got there, everybody was gone. We lost contact with our people altogether, so we’re assuming they’ve been killed.” He explained, his voice gruff with wear.

Juniu wrinkled her nose and sighed, running her tongue over her fangs.

“Have you searched his apartment?” She asked.

“We have,” the shorter man affirmed, hooking his fingers on one of the many belts of his long industrial cloak,” place was emptied out, no food, no clothes or toiletries, the car was gone too. Looks like he bolted after the attack.”

“Hardly on his own,” the young man beside Juniu snorted and rocked the liquid in his glass gently, watching the red thickness wave from side to side,”I’m not surprised he got away the moment we sent our people, Ventrue had his eyes on him long before we found him in our domain.”

Juniu spared her companion a look.

“If they grabbed him and killed the group we sent to get him they breached our agreement. The Omega was in our domain, Ainz.” 

“Their leader clearly doesn’t care about agreement you made decades ago with his father.” Ainz retorted.

“Is there a definite proof that Ventrue had their hands in his disappearance?” Juniu turned to the two vampires at the door.

“Not as of yet, but we’ve already sent someone to watch over the police station that Omega works at and we’ll see if he shows up. From the information we gathered, one of the Ventrue’s vampire is posing as his partner there.”

“Right,” Juniu moved over to one of the comfortable chairs and sat down, crossing her legs and pulling at the velvet fabric of her dress to smooth it out.”In that case, I think it’s pretty self-explanatory that they grabbed him, I’m rather curious of the question ‘what for’? I doubt the angry puppy in charge of the clan has any idea what he got his hands on. I guess one near genocide of his people wasn’t enough.” She exhaled boringly.

“Are we still going to try and get him if he’s in their domain now?” One of the vampires at the door asked.

“That’s not even up for a discussion,” Juniu furrowed her brows, “he’s rightfully ours and if it comes to light that Ventrue killed our people in our territory, I’d go even further and knock on their door.”

Ainz grinned.

“You want to fight them, the last remaining royal vampires?”

The woman ran her thumb over her lower lip, small smile forming on her lips.

“Royalty is passé in this time and age anyway.”

\----

“That’s horrible.”

“What? Why? It’s modern, it’s creative.”

“It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” Tom squinted at the large colorful mosaic replacing the broken windows. He glared at the particularly child-like drawing of a snake in the middle, or was it a fish?

Eike moved back from where they just finished putting up the last glass pane. She tilted her head a little in thought.

“Well, it’s not the grand centuries-old mosaic that’s been up there before, but Sandra told me a lot of manors have these those days, it’s all she could get in such a short notice,” she shrugged helplessly,” Do you think Semir’s not going to like it, sir?” She looked at him with genuine worry.

“After what happened this morning I doubt he’d care about the questionable decor of some windows, I’m surprised he’s still staying, Andre had Jacob and David bring his things up before they left for the station.”

“I’m glad he decided to stay,” Eike smiled and used a nearby cloth to wipe the dirt from her hands. The ruined room of their new guest was slowly getting fixed up since Andre and Semir left for work, but the hole in the wall would require a carpenter, Tom’s bulk beside the large dent caused a long crack to form all the way to the ceiling and that wasn’t something any of them dared to mess with without risking bringing the whole wall down on them.

“You watched him after Andre partnered up with him, but somehow I can’t say he’s really living up to the expectations you’ve been connecting him with.” Tom retorted, still feeling the lingering soreness of his bruised spine.

“He was just scared, sir. I think Andre made the right decision, Brujah would definitely kill him otherwise,” Eike folded up the cloth and followed Tom out of the door.

“Yeah, I know,” The elder vampire sighed,” We’ll find out soon whether it was good or not when Brujah realize what happened.” He muttered more to himself.

\----

The truck has been moved to the police service station to be examined further, upon their arrival the forensics briefed them on some of the new details they discovered, but any further test results would take a day or two.

Andre climbed in the back of the truck which has been illuminated with a black-light to reveal various stains surrounding the tarp which covered the body; now long removed and at the morgue.

He knelt by the tarp and examined the drag marks leading up to it. There were no visible traces of scratches or any kind of struggle with the stain going one direction and stopping right where the body was found, making it apparent that the victim wasn’t killed inside the truck but only brought to it, just as Andre initially thought.

More than the likely murder itself, Andre’s mind kept going back to seeing Semir standing there and the creature which has accompanied him, drawing the soul from its body. In his entire life, he’s never seen anyone with such ability and it was as fascinating as it was worrisome.

“Found anything interesting?” Andre rose to his feet when he heard the familiar voice behind him and turned around to see Semir waiting outside the truck, his little companion flew by, clearly distracted with other things.

“No, not really, just as thought that the guy wasn’t killed here but elsewhere and only brought inside the truck,” Andre said and jumped down back to the ground beside his partner.

“There weren’t any documents in the cabin, whoever was the driver yesterday he didn’t leave anything behind, the guys said he must have worn gloves too, the steering wheel was wiped clean,” Semir fidgeted with the collar of his turtleneck, the cream-colored fabric was the only available choice from the clothes Jacob brought in to cover up the neck bite, but it certainly looked good on the Turk, Andre thought appreciatively.

“Do we know the company this belongs to yet?” He nodded towards the truck.

“Yeah, some place called Hoedlmayr, I called them a while ago,” Semir affirmed, “I’ll be heading down there in a bit, are you coming?” He turned to his partner questioningly.

Andre shrugged.

“Do you need me there?”

Semir shifted his eyes to the colleagues moving about, ensuring nobody was listening on before he leaned a little closer to the taller man.

“I don’t know, it’s inside the city, so you tell me,” he said in a low voice so others wouldn’t overhear. 

“Right,” Andre smiled a little,” I don’t think you need to be that concerned when it’s during the day, but sure, I can go with you,”

Semir furrowed his brows at the unspoken indications.

“I’ve got no issue going alone, Andre. You were the one insisting that they want to kill me by all means.” He said with a hint of annoyance.

“I know and trust me, I’d rather be too paranoid than underestimate them.”

“You’ve never told me why do you think they’d be after me in the first place,” Semir said as they walked back to the car, Andre walking close beside him.”Your clan just wanted to know what I am, but what do they want if they’re so dead set on getting me?”

“That’s something I don’t believe you’d want to genuinely think about, Semir,” Andre said honestly and placed his palm on the smaller man’s lower back briefly when Semir gave him a worried look.

As they separated to move to their individual seats, Semir paused by the driver’s door.

“So, you’re not even sure what they wanted to do when they attacked me, right?”

Andre frowned.

“I think it’s pretty clear they wouldn’t go such lengths just to say hi.”

“You went the extra mile too and I still thought you wanted to kill me, but here we are” Semir argued and got in the car.

“I don’t see your point.” Andre retorted with annoyance. 

“My point is,” Semir said as he started the car and released the handbrake,”that at the end of the day you’re both vampiric clans and I apparently got into both of your territories, but you decided to protect me.”

“Do we have to discuss that now?” Andre grumbled, leaning on his elbow against the window.

Semir paused, his feet resting on the brake pedal as he looked at his partner seriously.

“We do, you nearly marked me yesterday, I just want to know where I stand in this scenario.”

Andre turned to look at him with furrowed brows, he should have known Semir would bring that up.

"I've done that to stop you from killing my clan, there was no ulterior motive behind it.” 

But the look in Semir’s eyes told his concerns laid in different places, the hopeful look dropped and shifted into one of sadness as the Turk’s attention slowly shifted ahead.

“Ah, right, I see.” He said then. “I misunderstood.” The disappointment in his voice was apparent.

That’s when he grabbed Semir’s hand before he could shift gears and moved closer until they were mere inches apart, lips so close that it’d only take a flick of a tongue for a taste.

His determined grey eyes met the confused chocolate ones, but Semir remained unmoving within his hold and didn’t turn away even as seconds passed before Andre said anything.

“You did, I'm not a primal Alpha to make a move in such a situation as that. I'd wait for the right moment.” 

Andre didn’t move his eyes off of him, waiting patiently for his partner’s reaction, determined to see if he was in this as much as he was. The Turk seemed even more confused for good several moments, but then Andre watched the switch and the dimples slowly appearing as Semir smiled.

“Would you? And when would that be?”

The question remained unanswered when their eyes closed simultaneously and the press of lips came split second later, Andre felt the hand he was holding slowly move from his grip and soon he felt an open palm resting on his cheek with such delicacy as if it would shatter the slow tender exchange between them.

The kiss was nothing more than a contact of skin and warm breath on their cheeks accompanied by a scratch of stubble and soon they were moving apart and their eyes met once more.

They stared at each other wordlessly for a long moment and Semir bit the inside of his cheek, hiding the smile that threatened to form again as Andre continued to watch him intently, his eyes slowly moving to the turtleneck and for a brief moment, he wondered…

But then, the pale blue creature whistled near his ear and shattered any more thoughts he might have had as it moved towards Semir and wrapped around his headrest.

Andre sighed and turned back to his seat while his partner did the same, now with a faint blush decorating his cheeks.

\---

Hoedlmayr was a small private business as it turned out and not particularly well kept either. When Semir pulled up at their warehouse, they counted five trucks at most with the loading dock mostly deserted.

All the trucks were marked with the company’s signature just like the one on the highway, but each was a different type of manufacturer.

Observing the working environment and seeing various people walking by, not doing much, they made their way towards what appeared to be the administration building, which was the only building with actual windows in this area, so it was their only guess.

Semir knocked twice before entering with Andre in his tow and a man in his late forties stood up from his rickety chair to greet them.

“Can I help you, gentlemen?” He asked, flicking eyes from one to the other curiously.

They both took out their badges and waved them in the man’s direction.

“Yes, I’m Semir Gerkhan and this is my partner Andre Fux,” Semir said, nodding towards his taller companion. “I’ve called you this morning about your stolen truck.”

“Ah, yes, yes, come in please, I’m Dierk Kompa, director of the Hoedlmayr company.” The man introduced himself and motioned for the two officers to sit in the chairs opposite of his desk. They both walked inside closing the door behind them and Semir sat down while Andre remained standing near one of the windows, watching the workers move around outside.

“Mr.Kompa, according to the record, you’ve reported one of your trucks missing five days ago, but it wasn’t listed under the company’s name but your personal information and you wrote no mention of a driver responsible for the vehicle at the time other than yourself, can you explain?” Semir began, spotting Merr in the corner of his eye casually exploring the small office. He looked at Andre, but his partner was still busy looking out of the window and didn’t see her.

“As you’ve probably seen, we’re only a small business with an equally small budget so most of the guys working here use their own vans for transport. The bigger trucks are under my name to save work for our accountant. We’ve got three at the moment, the two are currently in the field and the third---” Kompa scratched his head looking at the paperwork laid out before him as they began to move. Semir looked down to see Merr sniffing the papers, he clicked his tongue loudly, snapping his companion’s attention from what she was doing and drawing Kompa’s confused look instead. Semir smiled and crossed his arms.

“What about the third?” He asked politely. Kompa’s eyes shot towards his and the older man licked his lips awkwardly. Andre watched as Merr glided right by the man’s nose, likely looking for different entertainment. He couldn’t help but shake his head at the display.

“Well, the third one was parked here since Fabian went on sick leave not long before it was stolen, caught some kind of flu. There was no driver assigned to it at the time of the theft.” He explained.

“Did you contact Fabian after the theft to see if he possibly took it?” Andre chimed in this time and Semir watched his attention falter where Merr was currently in the process of poking a plastic plant in the corner of the room.

“I have, but he didn’t pick up and I didn’t have the time to call him again after that, despite my business being small, it’s still pretty busy, to be honest, I didn’t even consider Fabian would take it, he sounded really awful the last time I’ve heard from him,” Kompa admitted.

Semir slowly raised his eyes to his partner and the two exchanged a brief look which the owner noticed.

“You don’t think Fabian would be involved in the theft? That’s impossible, I can vouch for my people, they’re all good guys.” He added immediately.

“We found a body inside the bed of the truck,” Semir explained and Kompa’s jaw would have fallen had his mouth gaped open any further in shock, but Semir raised his hand diplomatically before Kompa could say anything,” At the moment we don’t know the identity of the deceased, but we would like to know the address of your employee just in case.”

“Of course, I’ve got it in his file here--” Kompa stood up abruptly and twirled around to shuffle through the cabinet behind him which drew Merr’s attention, but before she could get inside the cabinet, Semir grabbed her by the tail, drawing a startled hiss out of her.

“ _Stop it_ ” He warned her quietly, grabbing her right where her head ended to point her face at his to express his disapproval.

When she flicked her tongue at him, Andre rather turned his head back to the window to suppress the increasing amusement at the display.

“I haven’t updated his file for a while, but I think he still lives there,” As Kompa turned back around, Semir quickly released Merr and the serpent slithered right off to her freedom, Kompa was too preoccupied with the document in his hand than to notice Merr’s quick escape from her master caused another wind, lifting his papers.

Semir took the file from him with thanks.

“We’ll contact you when we know for sure who the deceased is, until then keep the information for yourself, if possible.”

Kompa nodded slowly and watched the short man stand up, he shook both their hands before they left and sat down with a heavy sigh.

When he looked down on his table he was surprised to see his earlier work scattered all over it.

\----

Andre took the file from his partner as they walked back towards the car and read through it. He flipped through the pages with disinterest.

“For a truck driver he’s got a file the length of a prisoner,” his eyes flicked over the lengthy details on the entirety of the man’s life. “Height, weight, relationship status, even his blood type.”

Semir looked over his shoulder at his partner.

“Is it your type?” He teased.

“You think I drink blood by type?” Andre raised his eyes from the file, giving a pointed look in Semir’s direction.

“You don’t? Somehow it strikes me as something you’d do.” Semir shrugged.

Andre closed the file as they got in the car and tossed it on the dashboard. They should be heading back to the station soon, but fortunately, the address to the man wasn’t too far so they could make one more stop.

“What are you trying to imply?” He retorted when Semir got in the driver’s seat next to him. “Do you absorb souls by type? If there’s such a thing-”

“There is,” Semir smiled as Merr wrapped around his headrest and settled down at last,” And yeah I’ve got a limit at what I can absorb and whatnot, so I figured you’d have a limitation of your own. I found out that nothing comes for free when you stop being human.”

Andre watched him for a moment.

“I’ve never been human to begin with, but we’ve all got our cons.” He finished.

The drive to Fabian’s apartment was brief and soon they were out and walking up the flight of stairs of an old derelict building. Seemingly not just the business Fabian worked for was standing on a bad leg.

They came to a stop in front of the door and Semir knocked three times and looked at his hand when it came back stained from the door.

“Ugh,” He grimaced and took a step back, while Andre looked around the floor at the surrounding apartments, the place looked awful both outside and inside, ages old mold crawling up the walls from high humidity coming from various cracks in the decades old windows in the hallway. It was a dark and overall unwelcoming place and Andre resorted to putting his hands in his pockets to avoid touching anything.

They waited for a moment, but there was no movement on the other side.

“He’s not home,” Semir said then.

“I think we know where he is,” Andre resoluted,” and it’s not a walk, come on, let’s head back.” He turned around to leave.

“Just hold on, I want to take a look around inside.” 

“I’m not kicking the door down just so you can take a look at an empty apartment,” The Alpha glowered, but then he saw Merr flying past his head and go straight through the door as if it wasn’t a solid obstruction at all, before he could question her intentions, there was a click and the door opened and Semir gave his partner an awfully smug look and walked inside.

Andre watched him with mixture of surprise and disapproval, but followed him inside despite all that.

Nothing seemed to be out of the order at the apartment, the dishes from his last breakfast still laid in the sink, fruit flies still buzzing around the leftover crumbs and the curtains blew in the wind coming from an open window, likely to let the stuffy morning air out. Gathered leaves around the windowsill made it apparent the window had been opened for a while, Fabian hasn’t been to the apartment for several days at least.

“Looks like an unplanned leave,” Semir noted and went to the small bedroom, Merr following him with a soft whistle. Andre hummed in agreement and his attention fell to a card laying on a dusty shelf, he picked it up and wiped the layer of dust from the front of it. 

Small gold letters on a purple ornate background read ‘Bali Club Membership’

“Bali, huh. Sounds familiar.” He muttered and turned the card around. 

He didn’t frequent Cologne night clubs for obvious reasons, but definitely heard of this one, couldn’t put the finger on when though.

“No wonder the guy was sick,” Semir called out from the bedroom, Andre raised his head and placed the card back to join his partner. He found him standing by the bedside, holding a surprising amount of pill bottles, when he saw Andre, he raised them up with the labels pointing in his direction and the Alpha read from some of the bold letters ‘Heparin’ and ‘Warfarin’.

“He took blood thinners?” 

Semir nodded and laid the pill bottles on the bed, Merr sniffed them individually and hissed.

“Nothing but blood thinners, the basket by his bedside is filled with napkins, but not because he’d be enjoying himself a bit too much,” he lifted the said basket in question and Andre could see the red stains from afar. “I don’t understand why he would do this to himself, not exactly a cough medicine--”

“He’s probably a bleeder for someone.”

“He’s a what?” Semir’s brow furrowed. Andre met his confused look with curiosity.

“Vampires will sometimes pay humans to be their milking cows when they don’t want to go hunting for a victim, usually the more unfortunate ones agree to it. I’m surprised you haven’t come across that in the five years you’ve been here.”

The genuine disbelief crossing Semir’s features made it obvious to Andre he wasn’t familiar with how things worked in their lifestyle.

“That’s a bit disturbing.” The Omega muttered and put the basket back on the floor.

“It’s not efficient in the long run, the meds affect how the blood tastes so this is really just a last ditch effort if there’s no other option.” Andre walked out of the room and Semir followed him with Merr right in tow.

“Have you ever-”

“No.” Andre cut him off before he could finish and threw a look at the card on the shelf, walking right past it.”But neither do I support it, it can only ever end up like this.”

“We haven’t seen the autopsy yet, we don’t know what killed him or if it’s even him,” Semir caught up to him.

As they both exited the apartment, Semir closed it shut and they were back to standing in the moldy hallway.

“I don’t think we need to see the autopsy to come to that conclusion, what’s more concerning to me is why did they bring him out of the city when it would have been easier to get rid of the body here,” Andre wondered. The decision made no sense to him, Brujah held the entire city under their domain so it was likely the city cops turned a blind eye to whatever they would cause, so why take such a risk and possibly get caught with their victim outside their territory?

“I told you something wasn’t right about the crash, for all we know it was intentional.” Semir said when they left the building, “ We just don’t know why yet.”

It was time to head back to the station and hope the autopsy had been done.

\---

By the time they pulled up to the police station’s parking lot it was pouring rain and a strong wind picked up so they both quickly rushed inside, but despite that their clothes were already soaking through. Semir clutched the thin jacket to his frame and stopped by Andrea’s desk.

She looked him over pitifully.

“Let me guess, it’s raining outside.”

“What makes you say that?” Semir smiled, but couldn’t resist the shiver running through his body. Merr retreated back within his chest before they exited the car, but they’ve used up so much strength since yesterday that her presence hardly offered any warmth.

“You had a call from the coroner half an hour ago, he wants you to stop by to look at the body-” she tutted when Semir made a sound of protest,” He said it’s really important and you should come as soon as possible.”

Just then Andre joined them, running his hand through his rain soaked hair and meeting Semir’s pained gaze.

“What is it? You look like she told you off.” 

Andrea tsked.

“Mister would have to make the move in the first place for me to do that, but that lays beyond the unknown.”

Andre shrugged at the glare Semir threw him.

The Turk exhaled, rubbing his arms in an attempt to acquire at least a little bit of warmth.

“You better save your energy, coffee’s going to have to wait, the coroner wants to see us,” Semir told his partner grimly.

Andre raised an eyebrow and turned to Andrea questioningly.

“What happened to using a fax?”

She put the tip of her pen between her mouth and shrugged.

“All he said is that it’s important that you see the body for yourself, I’m just forwarding a message.”

They heard a mighty thunder outside and rain beating on the windows with that much more intensity.

“Normal people wouldn’t go outside in that, we’re going for the second time today,” Semir grumbled and shivered again. He felt Andre’s hand wrap around his shoulders and squeeze them lightly before leaning down until Semir felt the pleasantly warm breath near his freezing ear.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let the wind take you away, little Dorothy,” Andre smiled persuasively and hearing Andrea’s restrained laughter along with some of the colleagues behind them, Semir shrugged his partner off.

“Oh, ha ha, really funny,” He fought the furious blush creeping up to his cheeks more from embarrassment than anything else he was willing to admit. Prefering the cold and wet alternative to any more ridiculous pick up lines from his partner, he quickly made his way down the hallway, only barely catching Andrea’s call.

“Hey, Semir wait, I didn’t tell you which morgue it is!”

He paused and turned around to see Andre still standing by the secretary’s desk with an awfully pleased smile dancing on his lips as their eyes met, while Andrea waved the paper with the address. 

“Give it to Andre, I’m sure he’s more than eager to drive in this weather anyway,” He huffed and turned on his heels to stalk outside back into the storm.

Andrea looked at Andre with a raised eyebrow and then proceeded to smile.

“I can’t help myself, but I find him awfully sweet when he’s embarrassed. Always a nice thing when a man has such a soft spot.” She handed her colleague the document with the address and leaned back in her chair with a dreamy sigh. “ Only if he made a move already.”

Andre folded the paper and smirked to himself.

“Keep on dreaming, princess.”

She looked at him with a pout.

“I think it’s only a matter of time, just needs a little push.”

Andre turned around then.

“Well, I better go before the little bird gets his feathers wet.”

He waved her goodbye and went after his partner.

\-----

Outside the rain was only getting stronger and Andre found Semir standing under the roof of the front entrance, hugging his jacket tight to his body, Merr was nowhere in sight. Placing his hand on Semir’s back, he was with a somewhat less flustered look than before.

“Come on, let’s get this over with,” he told him and Semir placed the BMW’s keys in his hand as he moved past him, Andre looked at them in question.

“What? I meant it.” Semir said when Andre shifted the look to him. “ I’m tired and I’m freezing, you’re clearly fine, so you can drive.” He reasoned and walked along with Andre to the car, squinting when the cold shower hit him like a train.

Andre unlocked the car and Semir quickly jumped into the passenger’s seat while his partner took the extra minute to adjust the seat, a slight inconvenience if they were in a rush, but there was nothing Semir could do about his limited height.

By the time Andre climbed inside, he sat down with a wet splat, already soaked from the brief moment in the rain. He shook his head to shake the wet drops from his face and Semir made an annoyed face.

“Oh come on now, what are you, a dog?” He said, wiping away the drops that landed on him.

Andre looked at him, his wet hair sticking absurdly to his forehead now and going well along with that innocent look on his face.

“Don’t tell me you’re really that cold?” He asked disbelievingly when Semir continued to shiver. The Turk just hugged himself tighter and threw him a side glare.

“I’m always cold,” he muttered. “ Merr usually helps me to warm up, but it’s not really doing much now. I think I’ve used up too much of my strength yesterday.”

The mention of his companion drew Andre’s attention to the headrest where the serpent usually was when they drove around, only to see her absent.

“Where is she?” He asked curiously.

“In me, helping.” 

At the worried look Andre gave him, Semir rolled his eyes.

“Merr’s part of me, emotionally and physically so if I’m low on energy, it affects her too. When she’s in me, she’s sharing her energy with me and it warms me up, there’s nothing freaky about this don’t worry, ” He explained.

But Andre’s worried look didn’t falter and he still didn’t start the car and now Semir was getting worried.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Andre frowned.

“Is there something I can do to help?”

The sudden question made Semir stare at him with genuine surprise that he forgot to shiver again. For a second he thought Andre was just fooling around again, but the vampire’s face remained the way it was, colored with concern and Semir chewed on his lower lip, taken aback a little.

He hesitated if he should bring up his need for a soul, but he only absorbed one the other day and it was too soon to look for another.

“I’m okay, Andre, honestly. Just cold, it’ll get better when the storm stops.” He reassured his partner quietly.

Andre didn’t seem too convinced and reached out to briefly squeeze Semir’s hand, frowning at the icy coldness underneath his touch. He said nothing though, just held it until it warmed up just enough to be bearable to touch, before he removed his hold and started the car, immediately turning on the heating and wordlessly pulled out of the parking lot.

Semir turned to look out of the window to hide his smile. Andre’s care filled him with warmth enough for the time being.

\---

The ride took long enough for the hard rain to ease into a light drizzle and when they got out of the car and for Semir out of the comfortably heated seat, it was less unbearable than earlier. Semir began to walk towards the building and saw his partner taking off his long black woolen cloak. Now it might have stopped raining as much, but it definitely didn’t get any warmer and he was about to tell him as much, but then Andre threw it over his smaller form without any comment and continued walking to the building, leaving Semir staring after him speechless once more, but enveloped in the Alpha’s pleasant scent and warmth.

Admittedly the gesture made him feel a little bit silly since the coat was certainly too big on him and the sleeves hung far too low to fit him, but Andre didn’t leave any room to argue and so Semir resigned to sighing quietly and pulling the heavy fabric closer to his body, taking in the comfort with much gratitude.

Arriving to the room where the coroner awaited them already stirred Merr within Semir, the bodies stored inside the many freezers were far too old to hold any remnants of a soul, but the mere shadow of it was enough to stir the need in his companion to come out and search, so he let her out, sure that Andre’s coat would be enough to keep him warm in her place.

His partner shot him a look when he saw the serpent glide right past him towards the freezers, but Semir shook his head.

“No souls, she’s just exploring like last time.” He said.

Andre nodded in acknowledgment and the coroner walked towards them to meet them.

“Gentlemen, I’m glad you came by as soon as you did, I’m doctor Alexander Stolz.” The man in his sixties introduced himself and shook both their hands in greetings. “Follow me, please.”

He led them down the narrow hall towards the autopsy table where a body still laid on the table. It was the first time he got to see the man properly since he absorbed his soul in the truck.

The amount of bruising all over the body surprised him.

“When they brought him in he was covered in dirt and dried blood, it was hard to say what was the source of death, but after we cleaned him we made a surprising discovery.” Stolz stated and pulled down the white sheet covering the deceased man to reveal puncture wounds upon puncture wounds all over his body. It was definitely the man Fabian from his documentation his superior gave them earlier.

Andre and Semir exchanged a look, Stolz sighed at their surprised expressions.

“One hundred eighty-six in total.” He said.

Andre leaned closer to have a better look.

“Teeth?” He asked then.

Stolz nodded.

“All canines, at first I considered it might have been some kind of an animal attack, but further inspection pointed it towards human canines, likely modified pair, the depth of the wounds was far too long for natural canines.”

“And what was the cause of death, then?” Andre straightened up again.

Stolz scratched the back of his head.

“That’s difficult to say,” he said and at meeting their confused looks, elaborated,” The body has been frozen before death occurred, vitals were slowed down, I’m inclined to believe he was drained of blood, but I can’t say that definitively.”

Andre moved the sheet back over the man’s body and moved to stand beside his partner. Semir meanwhile spotted Merr reappearing from one of the body freezers and gliding back towards him.

“So you don't know what killed him, then.” He said and returned his attention to the coroner.

Stolz grimaced apologetically.

“I’ve never come across something like this and as much as I’d like to offer more, this is all I can give you. I figured you’d rather see this for yourself than read it from a report, I will of course send it over regardless.”

“It looks like some kind of a ritualistic killing to me,” Semir said, giving one more look to the now covered body. “At least now we know for sure who it is.”

“You do? I only just sent his dental records in for identification,” Stolz gave them a look of surprise.

Andre nodded and crossed his arms.

“Yeah, he was the owner of the truck he was found in, his employer told us he’s been unresponsive for a while.”

“I see,” Stolz said and tugged the sheet over the man’s face,” Well, I’ll send you the report as soon as I get a word back on the dental records, should be done by tomorrow afternoon.”

With that, they exchanged their thanks and the pair left the coroner to finish his job. Semir clicked his tongue and Merr swiftly returned towards him and Andre watched her disappear within the smaller man’s chest, leaving him to sigh in content.

Once they were in the privacy of the large elevator, Semir pressed his back against the wall.

“What do you think happened to him?” He asked, glancing at his partner.

“Could have been accidental overfeeding,” Andre retorted and Semir nodded slowly.

“Do they usually freeze them alive?” The Turk pulled the coat closer around his shoulders.

“They do, but driving them around on frequented highway? Not so much.”

Semir sighed and closed his eyes. Andre watched his partner with silent worry.

When they finally reached the ground floor, it was already dark outside and the parking lot outside was empty besides two other cars.

Semir made the move to take the coat off and hand it back to Andre, but his partner stopped his hand and the Omega raised his eyes towards him in question. Andre simply shook his head and secured the coat around him. “Keep it. I’m not cold anyway.”

With that he unlocked the car and got in, Semir watched him for a brief moment before a smile formed on his lips and he followed him inside.

The comforting warmth caused him to doze off on the way back and he only found himself gently shaken awake when the surroundings of the morgue’s parking lot shifted to one of the manor’s courtyard.

Andre squeezed the nape of his neck gently, coaxing him into wakefulness and when he achieved so, he got out of the car, Semir slowly following in suit. It was already well into the night then and the only light around was the dim antique lamps near the main entrance.

Semir noted that most of the windows were dark and there wasn’t really anyone around to greet them.

“People don’t stick around here at night usually, plenty of work to do then,” Andre explained at his curious looks around the place as he guided him up the stairs.

They walked a long way until they came to a stop before a room and Andre opened the door, moving aside inviting Semir in. 

It was different from the one he was in initially, this one seemed much more spacious and with definitely a much bigger bed. Semir turned to his partner then who remained standing by the door.

“What's with the upgrade?” He asked with a smile.

Andre smirked but shook his head.

“This is one of the master bedrooms with installed heating, figured you'd prefer that.”

And Semir definitely felt warmer here than he did in the hallway, it was actually surprisingly comfortable and he had a feeling it wouldn’t cease even after he finally took off the coat. Speaking of which-

He walked back towards Andre and shrugged off the coat, folding it over his arm and handing it out to his partner. Andre looked at it with hesitation, but Semir’s smile assured him to take it back.

“Gonna be alright on your own?” He inquired."No more night adventures?"

“No, but I wouldn't say no to some company,” Semir noted innocently and the two of them gazed at each other in silence for a long moment, before Semir slowly and gingerly reached his hands out and took the taller man’s face between them and pulled him down to press their lips together. The kiss was gentle and brief like before but held a much more promise when their eyes opened once more and this time there was no Merr pushing her way through. Just the two of them, parted only ever so slightly so that their lips still ghosted against one another.

A smile appeared on Andre’s lips and Semir felt like he was smitten all over again.

“Company, hm? Is that all that it is?” the vampire teased.

"I'm open to suggestions," Semir offered.

Abandoning words, Andre moved in once more and pressed their lips together more insistently, placing his hand on the nape of Semir’s neck to keep him close while the Omega’s mouth more than happily opened to his demanding tongue and the two took a harsh gasp of air before all oxygen was shut off and the searing kiss set their bodies in motion. Dimly aware that this probably wasn’t a great idea but too blinded with need, Semir grabbed a handful of Andre’s jacket and dragged him inside the room, which surprisingly didn’t take as much effort as he anticipated. The Alpha moved more than eagerly despite his initial words of having things to do.

Andre reached blindly for the door and slammed it shut behind them while Semir continued to walk backward, pulling his partner along while their kiss continued to grow more heated. It wasn’t long until Semir’s legs bumped against something soft and Andre’s heavier build pushing against him sent them both falling down on the bed, their lips and tongues somehow still remaining in their passionate exchange even as Semir felt Andre’s powerful scent fill his nostrils and a pair of strong arms wrapping around his back as he was pushed further into the soft blankets, feeling suddenly so hot that he was surprised Merr didn’t just shoot out of him at the sudden shift of temperature.

Within seconds Andre’s lips suddenly removed themselves from his and the cream turtleneck was roughly pulled down from his throat until Andre’s ravishing mouth found the bruise he made earlier that day and Semir nearly cried out when he felt the hot tongue licking the bruised flesh, lips sucking and kissing around it filling him with an overwhelming need to feel that bite again.

He wanted Andre to do it properly.

But much to his disappointment, Andre soon pulled away altogether and their eyes met once more as both breathed hard, looking at each other’s swollen lips, their hands still roaming each other’s bodies with quiet need.

“As much as I want to,” Andre muttered,” now’s not the right place or time.” He pressed an apologetic kiss to those tempting lips and regretfully moved away.

Semir tried to stop him, complaint already on the tip of his tongue, but Andre shook his head.

“Later”

“You want this just as much as I do,” he complained. Andre leaned in to press another light kiss to the now exposed throat, drawing a whine out of the smaller man before he moved away once more and started walking towards the door.

“That's why there's no reason to rush,” he said with a mischievous smile.


	3. Chapter 3

After Semir took a bath he felt much more awake and since Andre left, he figured he’d do some exploring of the manor. It was apparent he’d be staying for a while and he figured he might as well get familiar with the area, so after he put a fresh change of clothes on, he headed out of the door.

The hallway’s lights came on as soon as he stepped past the threshold, illuminating the entire corridor with dim yellow lights, keeping the mysterious atmosphere of the large, seemingly empty house. He closed the door behind him quietly, not that there was anyone around to complain about the noise, but the sound carried around this place and it just made him feel better if he made as little noise as possible. Merr appeared at his side as they began their little exploration.

Semir didn’t really get to take in the enormity of this place when he first woke up here, at the time too preoccupied with getting away, but now he could see just how massive the manor really was. The decorations looked outdated for the century, but the place looked fancy and well kept so there must have been enough people living there to keep up the maintenance.

Large red drapes hanged from the ceilings along the length of the corridor and in between the grooves stood a pedestal with a statue of some sort of a beast on top of it in a striking pose and behind it hung on the wall a large portrait of various individuals in periodic clothing.

A bit creepy choice of decor in his opinion, but this wasn’t just any home after all and he wasn’t that educated in vampires to have a clue about what was common and whatnot in their living establishment.

He’d stop briefly at each of the individual statues to check out the portraits without giving it much thought, but one of the statues near the end of the corridor where the hall met the grand staircase caught his attention and he almost walked past it when the additional creature standing beside the much larger one appeared into his view. It was a slap into the aesthetic of all the statues before it as they all were posted on their own individual pedestals with singular portraits, but this one held two winged beasts narrowly fitted on the singular pedestal posed as if fighting over their spot. Semir noted that one of them was significantly smaller and appearing far less developed than its counterpart as if it was a child. He raised his eyes towards the portrait hanging above it and saw a man in victorian clothes with a small boy standing in front of him, they had such a piercing look to their eyes that Semir felt uneasy looking at the painting for too long and looked for the plaque of the portrait instead.

_Haus Von Feurenkranz 1905_

Seeing as there were no more statues ahead, but lone pedestals without paintings, Semir guessed this might be the last family to reside there. He looked at the statues again and wondered; was it possible that the statues were of the people in the paintings?

He’s never seen a vampire in any other form than the human one, but who was there to say that they didn’t have another one---

“Hey, squirrel!” 

The cheerful female voice said behind him, he thought he was going to drop to the floor dead right there and then with how much she startled him. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” 

He turned around and saw one of the vampires from earlier- Eike, he remembered now. Incidentally, the only one who seemed to feel sympathy for him during his daring escape. The young blonde was looking him over with an apologetic smile.

“No, it’s alright,” Semir laughed breathlessly and straightened up, “Squirrel? That’s a first.” He repeated with a chuckle.

“Yeah, since you climbed the building and all, like a squirrel,” She grinned and patted him on the back, “I’m glad you agreed to stay in the end, we got off with a rough start, but I knew you’d come around. I hope the big boss didn’t spook you with that stunt, all good? And where’s the little noodle?” She looked above his head and around the hallway.

“I’m fine, thanks,” He looked over his shoulder where Merr was moments ago to see her raising her head from where she laid down on one of the statues’ heads, “She’s around, by the ‘big boss’ you meant Andre?” 

“Of course, he turns this large carousel around, but his brother does his fair share of bossing around too, we’re not a huge clan but even then it can be a handful,” The young blonde gave him a toothy grin and Semir noted the flash of fangs that reminded him that he wasn’t talking to a petite girl as it might seem at first glance. 

“I had an inkling that he might be, I suppose I should be glad that things turned out the way they did then,” He said.

“You have no idea how right you are, this is probably the only clan which I’ve ever come across that recruits vampires which weren’t born into this bloodline, but anyway enough about that, what are you doing out here?” She asked curiously, looking over his shoulder at Merr dozing off on one of the statues.

“I’m just checking out the art pieces, they sure had some questionable sculptors here,” he pointed in the direction of one of the statues. Eike sighed.

“You’re telling me, I’ve been walking past them for years and they always creep me out, but-” she moved past him and grabbed the clawed foot of one of the two statues on the last pedestal Semir stopped by, leaning against it, “ They’re not just pretty decorations but apparently the true forms of all the previous lords of this clan. Only one in several generations could shift like that, neat isn’t it?”

Semir pointed at the smaller statue next to the big one.

“What about the one with two statues?” 

“I’ve noticed it, yeah” she nodded and Semir waited for her to continue, but she just looked at him without saying anything.

“Well, why’s that?” He pressed on.

“Jacob didn’t get this far with me on the history lesson.” She said sheepishly and raised her finger before Semir could say anything. “But I think there might have been an exception maybe.”

It was then when they heard footsteps and both turned towards the staircase to see Tom heading towards them. He was holding a phone and clicking through it when he felt their presence. 

“What are you two doing over here?” He walked up to the pair, keeping a wary look on Semir, but his tone remained upbeat nevertheless and Semir immediately felt an awkwardness overcome him.

“He’s just exploring his new surroundings, sir.” Eike patted Semir on the shoulder and said her goodbyes, the two men watched her walk downstairs until it was just the two of them left in the corridor.

They looked at each other and neither said anything for a long moment.

It was probably more awkward than it needed to be, but at least there weren’t any witnesses to see it.

In the end, it was Semir who gathered the courage to speak first.

“I think I should apologize for earlier, I wasn’t really thinking straight.” He admitted, feeling guilty. He was aware that Tom hadn’t tried to hurt him at any point during his little escape and that made it all the worse.

He prepared himself to be scolded for his harsh reaction, but Tom simply shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

“Well to be fair I should have seen it coming, Andre made the decision to bring you here without giving anyone a heads up, so we all just assumed it would go fine.”

“Yeah, I was a bit startled to be knocked out and wake up kilometers away from the city, still though,” he smiled apologetically.

“No hard feelings, we got off to a rough start and I’d say that’s human, but you know-”

They both chuckled.

“So,” Tom took one quick look at his phone and placed it in his pocket, he looked over his shoulder and then back at Semir. “Wanna go have a look around the place? I’ve got nothing going on at the moment and it’s easy to get lost here on your own.”

The offer surprised him, but Semir was curious to explore the place, he’s never been to a manor before and admittedly the thought of walking through a vampire den on his own worry him a bit.

“Sure, I appreciate it.” He agreed then and the two headed down the corridor towards the east wing.

Halfway through the tour, Semir learned that the manor wasn’t just claimed by the vampires by forcing the previous owners out or taking over it after their death, it was built by the clan itself which was interesting.

Ever since his resurrection, he’s only ever seen the majority of other supernatural beings from afar, Elif taught him early on to stay away from anyone who wasn’t human since none of them would ever have good intentions and he followed that rule by heart, even after they went their separate ways Semir ensured that everyone he surrounded himself with were nothing but humans.

But after the police academy where he has seen vampires, but they never paid him any attention, he wasn’t so careful anymore. The beings that Elif painted as something so terrible and to be wary of just never showed any hostility towards him and as long as he stayed out of their sight, it seemed to work well enough.

That all changed with the arrival of Andre as his new partner and the safe bubble Semir thought he had around him, burst within seconds. Now not only did was he thrust in their midst without having any say in it, he learned they were watching him from the very beginning since he arrived to Cologne and the thought of that scared the hell out of him.

Of course, he immediately called Elif when he had a moment on his own and the woman he considered close enough to be his mother reassured him she wasn’t in the city and that they’d meet once she returned.

Which was a whole another matter Semir would have to deal with along the way, he didn’t tell Andre about Elif yet and it didn’t seem like any of the vampires were aware of her presence, he wanted to tell his partner, but he was worried. Whatever bad blood there was between the two vampiric clans here, it was clear that mentioning another being of the same origin as him probably wouldn’t end well for anyone.

As long as the focus was on him, Elif was safe. He’d tell them later.

For now, Tom was leading him through a large library with shelves stacked with books all the way to the tall ceiling. Tom waved his hand vaguely at the large collection.

“There are eight thousand books here, Andre and I read maybe four of them all the way to the end, but Jacob has read at least a good half of the collection, you pretty much find him here whenever he’s got nothing to do.”

“Only four?” Semir raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

“There’re a few romantic novels and poetry, but the rest is history and ramblings about technical discoveries from the early 1900s. There’s plenty of reading on various supernatural creatures though, your origin might be somewhere in there too.” Tom shot him a hopeful look. “What are you exactly? Some type of a ghoul, right?”  
“That depends what’s a ghoul, cause I’ve only ever seen vampires up close, so I’m not familiar with that.” Semir retorted.

“Type of a being that came from a dead human, although they usually feed on human flesh, which you don’t, right?” Tom walked over to one of the bookshelves and began looking for something. 

“No, I’m not a cannibal last time I checked.”

“Right,” After a moment of searching, Tom pulled out a book and showed it to him. Semir read the label ‘Arabic Myths and Legends’. “Can you read Arabic?”

Semir squinted at the small Arabic letters beneath the bold title.

“Well, I can tell you the line underneath it says ‘written by’ and that’s about all you’ll get out of me,” Tom started to laugh at that. “What? I’m a Turk, we didn’t use Arabic letters there!” He quickly added, making an effort to look offended while Tom placed the book back.

“Ah well, it was worth a try, I’m sure we’ll figure it out along the way, there’s gotta be a soul eater with a pet snake somewhere in the wordly legends.”

At the mention of Merr, the serpent appeared into the view and nibbled at one of the many antique books on the shelves.

“Putting the supernatural talk aside, Andre mentioned you like to drive around in your free time, what have you got?” Semir changed the topic to one of more interest to him.

Tom’s grey eyes sparkled with interest.

“You like cars?” He asked curiously.

“Cars, bikes, horses, going fast is most men’s guilty pleasure, I’m no exception.” 

Tom hmmed and took one look towards the hallway, contemplating.

“I’ll need to head out with Andre in a bit, but-”

Semir looked at him with intrigue.

“I think we can afford a quick round.”

\----

Making one last mark on the map Andre finally straightened up and rubbed the tiredness from his eyes. He honestly couldn’t wait to finally lay down, there’s been constantly something going on from the morning, he didn’t get any rest since he brought Semir over and when he thinks he’s finally got the time for himself, they call him about two of his clan members going missing near Hainich. The forest has been difficult to monitor with their lack of people available for the job. 

Ten years ago they had fifteen people guarding the borders at all times, now with only eight left there were constant problems with creatures slipping through and causing havoc on the highway. Heinich was filled to the brim with all sort of monsters and Andre would be relieved to see werewolves roaming the area since they had an agreement and they usually did their job to keep the bastards in, but the werewolves that did frequent the area haven’t showed up in weeks and Andre’s clan was on its own with containing the problematic creatures inside the forest.

And now with the brewing conflict between his clan and Brujah…

Andre heard a sound of a powerful engine come to life outside and he turned in his chair towards the window. 

Who the hell was doing that at this hour?

A screech of tires followed and the sound of rubber digging into gravel of the courtyard. Andre saw a pair of headlights and stood up, confused and irritated. Before he could open the window, the car zoomed out of the view and disappeared behind the house and Andre heard his phone ping with a message.

“What the hell is going on out there-” he muttered to himself and picked up the phone to see he received a message from Tom. He opened it and quickly read it and his growing anger quickly dissolved into an annoyed sigh.

He sat back down in his chair and tossed the phone back on the table.

“Unbelievable….”

\----

_Be right back, quick ride w/ Semir_

_T._

\----

Somewhere in the residential district of Cologne a man knocked on the door of a large red brick villa and a young gentleman opened the door. He looked the visitor up and down conspicuously.

“I’ve got news for Juniu.” The man informed him and made a step forward, urging the young man to step aside.

The brunet nodded towards the marble staircase.

“She’s upstairs, you’re lucky she’s in a good mood if you’ve got bad news.”

The older man shot him a look but said nothing as he walked up the stairs.

Once he reached the upper floor of the luxurious house, he spotted the leader sprawled on her couch and watching a tv with a much more homely attire than he’d seen her before at the club. She sat there with a mug of coffee in her hands wearing sweatpants and a jumper. At first glance she seemed like any other housewife on her breaktime after the kids had gone to bed, but he knew better.

When she didn’t look up from the tv that played night news, he cleared his throat and met the piercing blue eyes of his leader. Her attention immediately fell to his muddy shoes though and her brows furrowed in displeasure.

“Can’t you take your shoes off when you walk in, Mark? I don’t care if you’re an uncivilized swine around your house, don’t bring those manners to mine.”

He blinked and the seriousness on his face quickly dissipated when he quickly knelt down and took off his heavy boots and held them in his hand.

“Sorry, chief, I forgot.”

She rolled her eyes and placed her mug on the short table before her, sitting up properly to look at him.

“So, what’s the news?” She asked.

Mark rubbed his bare feet against the itchy fluffy rug and recovered his serious stance.

“Fux and Gerkhan showed up to the police station as usual but both arrived simultaneously. I’ve followed them for the rest of the day, and didn't see any change in their interactions,” Juniu listened on with interest.

“I tried to follow them when they were heading back from the morgue, but got caught by two of their guys on the way. Judging from Fux driving them out of the city, I’m sure Gerkhan’s staying at the Ventrue estate.”

“That moron,” Juniu shook her head disappointedly and moved to stand up. “I can’t believe he’d do something so utterly stupid as to bring that soul eater to the estate. Did he think we wouldn’t be watching him after last night? Unbelievable…”

Mark watched Juniu turn off the television and wander towards the window, looking at the darkened street.

“So, what are we going to do now? Do you want us to try to get Gerkhan again?” He asked when Juniu remained silent for a long moment.

“No, Andre’s going to be keeping a close eye on him after last time,” She raised her chin and chewed on her lower lip in thought, “Keep an eye on them Mark, I need to know what Ventrue wants to do with Gerkhan in the long run. Andre doesn’t seem to care about the severity of his actions.”

She returned to the couch and sat down picking her mug again and taking a sip of whatever liquid was within. Mark nodded and turned to leave.

“What did you do with the two Ventrue that stopped you?” He heard Juniu’s voice speak out once more.

“I left them where they stopped me, near Hainich, the forest’s going to take care of the cleanup.”

“Let nature run its course.” Juniu smiled and with that, Mark left the residence, obediently putting on his boots on the front porch.

\-----

It was well into the night before a black car left the Feuerkranz Manor and sped down the long dark dirt road, driving through the forest and joining the highway shortly after.

Andre stared ahead, elbow pressed against the window while Tom drove on.

“Frank said they were left by the side road, so he moved them closer to a nearby rest stop and should be waiting for us there,” Tom broke the silence.

The earlier news about their missing people ended up being unfortunately grim after another group was sent out to look for them. Now Andre not only had to deal with the loss of two people he knew for twenty five years, but whatever caused their death.

“I’m starting to get fed up with this.” He said more to himself than to his brother.

Tom glanced at him.

“We’ll find out whoever did this and deal with them.” He promised.

But Andre’s frown only deepened and his hand clenched into a fist as they drove on nearer to the scene of the incident.

“We were cursed with this goddamn forest..” Tom muttered and pushed the gas pedal further as the woods around them only grew thicker and more menacing the more they approached the center of Hainich.

Four kilometers later they saw the lit up area of the rest stop and Tom pulled the car in, right away they only noticed one truck parked there with lights and engine turned off. They got out of the car and began walking down the length of the area hidden from the main highway by a thick line of trees, keeping a good cover from any curious eyes. After a quick look at the cabin of the truck, Tom nodded at Andre.

The driver was alright and asleep.

It wasn’t the safest place to spend the night, but this stretch of the road was less frequented by the forest’s nightly visitors thanks to the numerous seals pinned to the trees along the road. Who said witches weren’t useful when you needed them?

They walked across the rest stop until they noticed headlights under the tree line ahead and soon Frank came to meet them.

“I’ve done what I could to keep their scents covered, but I’ve already heard noises coming from the forest, we’ll need to hurry.” he informed them and led them towards the car. There, laying on the side facing the forest were the two bodies of their comrades. As Andre’s vision wasn’t affected by the darkness, he could see from afar already the odd angle their heads were in, smell of blood filled his nostrils reawakening his growing hunger which he quickly forced in the back of his mind, disgusted with himself for feeling such a need during this heavy loss for himself and his clan.

Their numbers have been growing thinner for years now and despite the leniency they showed towards outcasted vampires by taking them in, the losses continued.

It’s hardly been a year since they lost one of their most reliable and loyal people to a similar fate, Anthony’s been recruited by Andre’s father and survived the day the clan’s been attacked by Brujah and their former allies, only to meet his end during a checkup on the seals within Hainich. He just left one day and disappeared, they’ve all searched for him and Andre went as far to go inside the forest himself and beyond the boundaries they had set to look for his friend, but it was too late, Anthony’s charred remains were found by a group of hitchhikers the following week and Andre never got the chance to give him a proper burial, police were quicker.

It made him wonder if Semir had been one of the officers on the scene at the time and possibly knew where the remains ended up since Frank told him he wasn’t with him.

Now, history repeated itself and in Anthony’s place now laid Samantha and Ellis, both one of the few remaining within the clan’s bloodline and that made the loss even more severe.

He knelt beside the two bodies and gently moved Samantha’s long red hair out of her face to reveal the wide eyed look and protruding knife from her throat which severed the spine from the head.

The method of their killing was the only reason neither of them turned into ashes and bones, their bodies permanently stuck in this incapacitated form with no possibilty of recovery. The spine couldn’t be reconnected and the only thing holding the head together with the body was the dagger.

“This doesn’t look like they were killed by something from the forest, that’s apparent at first glance, why did you think otherwise?” Andre said and moved his hand over Samantha’s unseeing eyes to close them. Tom did the same to Ellis at his side, lowering his head with grief.

“There’ve been plenty of ghouls hanging out in this area lately, they’d be capable of this.” Frank insisted.

Andre looked up at the other vampire and stood up to tower over him with his greater build.

“There are also other vampires with a much greater motive, like the Brujah.” 

“...Well, that’s possible, but,” Frank looked at the two deceased on the ground, “Why would they be here? If they want the guy we brought to the manor, wouldn’t they just go there? Or try and grab him again in the city? They’ve been lurking around his apartment all day, Eike told me.” 

Tom and Andre exchanged a look.

“They’re monitoring Semir’s apartment?” Andre asked.

Frank nodded.

“They’ve been active all over Cologne, it’s been nearly impossible to get anywhere near the borders.”

Andre looked at the two bodies. Frank’s uncertainty didn’t get rid of the gnawing guilt that his two friends were dead because of his decision to rescue Semir from Brujah’s hands last night. Frankly he hadn’t thought it through at the time, only thinking of his own feelings and needs, but the thought of how much potential risk this was for his already weakened clan didn’t even cross his mind.

And now, Samantha and Ellis possibly paid the price.

Andre clenched his fist at his side and snapped his eyes towards Frank.

“Let’s get them in the car, we’ll take them back to the manor and lay them to rest there, it’s the least we can do for them now.”

They all moved wordlessly, gathering up the cold bodies and carefully laying them across the back seat and floor of Frank’s car who then brought out a blanket from his trunk and threw it over their forms for the ride back.

He shut the door and looked at Andre with concern.

“Are you sure you don’t want to check the forest? Maybe whoever did this is still around,” he suggested.

However Andre felt pretty certain and Tom undoubtedly too, that this attack was far too well executed to be done by some random creature from the forest. The seals were all still up and working and Samantha and Ellis were both more than capable of defending themselves and ghouls stank so badly of rotten flesh that he was sure they’d be able to recognize the incoming threat way before it hit them.

They were caught by surprise.

\----

The drive back was silent and before they neared the gates of the manor, sun was already coming up once more. When they parked in the courtyard, several of the other clan members already returned from their nightly trips and approached them to assist them. Andre stepped out of the car and slammed the door behind him with all too much force.

He stood there while Tom requested that they bring out stretchers to move the bodies. It was a slow and grim process as the other vampires began to recognize their deceased comrades and Andre could stare on the gravel below his feet as he heard the gasps of shock and quiet flow of questions, who killed them? 

He had no answer for them, but his tongue burned with accusations and possible motives, but that’s all it could do, he had nothing to prove Brujah had anything to do with their deaths.

Same way Brujah had nothing on him from the night before.

He clenched his fist so hard the skin stretched paper thin and he only raised his head when the covered bodies were carried past him.

It was then when he spotted Semir standing on top of the stairs, looking down from the main entrance with a worried expression. As if he was shocked to see the scene unfolding before him. Was it that much of a shock to see two of his people dead when he killed that many more last night?

He felt almost irrational anger at seeing Semir’s reaction to seeing the bodies. That’s just how things went in their world, get used to it.

It was then when Andre saw Merr appear at his side that he pretty much immediately froze in the spot.

The serpent flicked her tongue and her bright red eyes followed the grim procession all the way until they disappeared through the door.

A quick flashback in Andre’s memory reminded him just what was her role in Semir’s life, he glanced towards the bodies and back to Semir who wasn’t even looking at them anymore, he was staring at him, the crease on his forehead only growing bigger with worry.

But it was no use, irrational paranoia overtook Andre’s common sense and within seconds of spotting Merr’s form circling her master

“ **Get the hell back inside, I don’t want to see you anywhere near those bodies, you got it?!** ” His voice thundered across the courtyard causing everybody around to jump in startelement and Semir’s hands jerked back from where they were resting against the stone railings as he took several quick steps back, his expression shifting from worried to fearful. He shot one quick look down at where the others already disappeared with their load and then he looked back at Andre with so much confusion and hurt that the vampire immediately regretted his outburst, but before he could say anything further, Semir obliged and within the next second he retreated out of the view and back inside the manor.

Andre ran a hand over his face and let out a tired sigh. He might have just shattered the trust he built up with his partner.

“Fuck….” He muttered.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and raised his eyes to see Tom standing at his side.

“I’ll talk to him, don’t worry about it.” He reassured.

But Andre shook his head.

“Now’s not the time, we need to bury them before sunrise, I’ll have to head to work with him in a bit anyway, I’ll talk to him then.”

Tom’s brow furrowed with concern.

“If you’re sure about this…”

\-----

Semir slammed the door behind him as soon as he reached his room and came to a standstill in the middle of the room.

His gaze remained on the ground as he tried to take in what just happened and the overwhelming ache in his chest slowly began to cease down.

Merr whistled sadly beside him and captured his attention, he looked at his companion still at loss of what to do.

Merr tilted her head when she felt his distress enveloped in confusion and shattering sadness.

“Those were dead vampires.” He whispered at last. “He thought I was going to absorb their souls.”

All he got was another sad whistle as Merr circled around the room, he moved back to the bed and sat down, the hurt from being yelled at with such a cold accusation left him speechless at the time. Andre never yelled at him before. Not with such anger.

But Semir had seen the anguish on his partner’s face before their eyes met, he smelled both of the Alphas distress as Tom helped to unload the bodies.

As much as he felt hurt by Andre’s angry words aimed at him, there was clearly something more going on.

Merr came to rest before him and lowered herself on his lap, curling up into a ball and closing her eyes as Semir’s hand slowly moved over her back.

“What did we get ourselves into….”

\----

When the time came for their ride to work, Semir walked down to the courtyard on his own, the earlier chaos making him feel like it would be probably easier than to wait for someone to fetch him.

He waited by the BMW for several minutes before he saw Andre emerge from around the manor, walking towards the courtyard with Tom, the two of them carrying on a conversation until Tom spotted Semir and nudged his brother, drawing his attention to the Turk. When Andre’s eyes fell on Semir’s, the Omega felt almost irrationally uneasy and like he’d done something wrong by going outside on his own, but he knew they had to leave, or at the very least one of them, to go to work.

Tom and Andre exchanged a few brief words and then the older vampire jogged towards the front door while Andre continued to walk in Semir’s direction and the Turk’s unease only grew with his partner clearly in a bad mood. 

Maybe he should have stayed inside after all.

The moment Andre looked at him, Semir turned his gaze away and began walking towards the driver’s door, he felt Andre’s pause at his wordless movement, but when his partner got in the passenger seat without any comment, Semir followed in suit and started the car.

He was aware that he hasn’t driven to or from the manor yet, but he figured he’d manage-

“Go left,” Andre said out loud when they finally reached the end of the dirt road and approached the highway. Semir glanced at his partner and finally got a proper look. The initial anger seemed to have drained from Andre’s face and all that was left was tired worn out man and Semir’s hurt feelings pretty much dissolved on the spot.

“I don’t know what happened during the night and you don’t have to tell me,” he said then, looking ahead on the road. Andre looked at him then, the look in his eyes somewhat softening.

“I didn’t mean to yell at you,” he said then and sighed, “but seeing your companion and the things you’ve told me about the souls,” he paused and waited until Semir’s eyes turned to his again for a brief moment, “kinda hard to ignore that when the dead are people who matter to you.”

Semir nodded wordlessly and the ride remained quiet for several moments as both men were consumed by their thoughts.

Eventually Semir couldn’t shake the worrying thoughts from his mind and he found the courage to ask.

“Did they die because of me?”

“No.” Andre’s response was quick.

A bit too quick for Semir to believe it.

“It’s got nothing to do with you,” Andre continued, quite determined with his words, “So don’t think about it.”

“Alright.” He wasn’t reassured, but he didn’t want to argue with Andre right now.

\---

When they arrived at the office, Andre hardly talked to anyone and Semir tried to save it by telling everyone his partner was simply unwell.

“The weather yesterday probably got to him,” he said to Andrea who was throwing worrying glances in their office’s direction. He returned to the office and closed the door behind him, shutting the blinds as he did so.

He threw a look in his partner’s direction, Andre didn’t say anything since they got there and it was a bit concerning. This was such a switch in a mood for him that it was throwing Semir off and all he wanted was just to try and fix it. But he had no idea if he could. Andre hasn't told him anything about what happened.

The only thing that was apparent was that his partner was clearly grieving. The distressed scent of the Alpha still hung strongly within the room and Semir’s Omega instinct was twitching with the desire to fix, to help, to make him feel better.

But Andre wasn’t his Alpha.

And he wasn’t Andre’s Omega.

As much as Semir knew that something was definitely forming between them, as long as they weren’t mated, it wasn’t appropriate to try and soothe whatever was ailing the Alpha if he wasn’t sought out.

Still, it was unbearable to watch him sit there miserably and clearly tired out of his mind and it wasn’t long until Semir couldn’t handle it anymore and walked over to Andre’s side of the table, the vampire’s eyes rose to met his as he came to rest against his desk with arms crossed across his chest.

“What?” Andre asked then and Semir simply continued to stand there and watch him with neutral expression. It was apparent Andre wasn’t looking for pity from him.

“Nothing.” He shrugged, but then Andre’s expression shifted when Semir’s scent began to slowly spread through the room.

“There’s no need for that, Semir, I’m fine,” Andre said with a frown. He noticed the lack of Semir’s companion then. “And you don’t have to hide Merr from me. I already told you I didn’t mean it-”

“She's not hiding, just got bored and left. I can't put her away whenever I please like some kind of a tool, you know."

Andre's brow furrowed.

"What do you want?" He asked when Semir's gaze remained firmly on him.

"I-" The Turk started very confidently, but quickly cut himself short and sighed."Nothing, just thought I'd help," there was a softness in his eyes and Andre recognized his attempts at making him feel better despite...

Well.

Despite not being his Omega. Not being his lover.

And Andre wanted him to be.

Life buzzed beyond the door of their office, but neither took any notice of it, not even when Andre’s hand wordlessly reached out and pulled Semir towards him, not even when the smaller man came to rest on his lap, the position in the restricted chair awkward but neither minded.

Not even when Andre kissed him, despite the doubts screaming inside his head that he made a mistake, that things should have been different, that maybe he shouldn’t have saved Semir back then and things wouldn’t have been as difficult as they were now.

When those lips kissed him back with equal desperation, Andre just couldn’t find himself to regret this anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

“I don’t like this, Andre,” Tom said, frowning at the map laid out before him while Andre rummaged through paperwork scattered over his desk, looking for something in particular. He lifted his gaze momentarily to see his brother’s frown only deepened as his eyes moved over the various crosses on the forested areas of the map.

“It’s the best option for our current situation.”

Tom shook his head.

“Recalling everyone from their checkpoints is the best option? What if something gets out?” He argued.

“The seals we laid out should take care of that until we find out who or what killed our friends,” Andre took the desired document over to his chair opposite of Tom causing his older brother to look over curiously.

“What’s that?” 

“The autopsy of our frozen guy,” Andre said and Tom stood up and walked around to take a look at the report over his shoulder.

“What about it?” He asked, taking the report from his brother to look it over.

“I’m starting to think they planted him on the highway.” Andre frowned.

“And who exactly is ‘they’, because if you’re about to say Brujah, I don't want to hear that.”

Andre ran a hand through his hair.

“I don’t know yet, but something’s happening on our highway and I’m starting to believe that body’s got something to do with that.”

“If the Brujah are monitoring Semir’s apartment, they would be watching the station too.” Tom sighed.

That thought had crossed Andre’s mind, but he knew most of Juniu’s people didn’t know what he looked like or who he really was, so even if they monitored them it shouldn’t be easy to figure them out.

“I wouldn’t recall the patrols yet, Andre,” Tom said then, interrupting his thoughts as he set the report back on the table,” If Brujah are up to something, after all, it’ll be better if we have someone keeping an eye out. Semir’s not going to be the only one in danger here if we’re not prepared.”

Andre pondered over that, his brother had a point, as much as he wanted to keep his people safe, it would be a risk to them all if they left the road to their manor unprotected.

First things first.

“Alright then,” he said finally and stood up,”We’ll leave things be the way they are, I need to check something out first,” he crossed the room and grabbed his coat off the hanger by the door, before he left the room, he looked back at his brother, “Don’t let Semir leave the manor, I’ll be back in the evening.”

Before Tom opened his mouth to argue, the door opened and shut and the clan leader was gone.

Tom let out annoyed groan.

“Great, so you run off on your little adventures while I’m stuck here babysitting the guy,” He muttered under his breath.

He was already fed up with taking care of Andre’s dealings as it was since he turned to the cop career and now watching his new friend on top of it wasn’t on Tom’s list of desired activities.

He walked to the door and opened it to see his brother disappear through the main entrance, the large door shutting behind him with a mighty groan. Tom leaned against the doorframe and genuinely pondered over his decision all those years back to run the clan along with him.

The responsibilities became to really weight him down lately.

“Brooding runs in the family I see,” a voice from his right pulled Tom out of his thoughts.

The subject of their earlier conversations slowly approached him with a hint of a smile on his thin lips and a slight lift to his eyebrow with apparent amusement, unaware of the serious conversation moments earlier.

“Semir, I thought you were on the track,” he looked at the smaller man with surprise,” Got tired of it already?” He teased.

“Nah, I’d be there all day if I could trust me,” the Turk clicked his tongue, his serpentine companion glided near Tom’s head looking into the office curiously.

“But?” Tom moved away from the doorframe and reached behind him to close the door to the office before walking along with him down the hall.

“It got too cold for me, I don’t really do well in cold weather,” the smaller man explained with a smile and looked up at Tom, noting his surprised look, “Andre hasn’t told you?”

“He didn’t mention it, no,” Tom affirmed, looking at the Turk curiously now.

“Well, you can add it to the tab you’re keeping on me,” Semir raised his hand once Merr got tired of hovering over Tom’s head and wrapped around her master’s arm instead.

“You think we have one? That’s a feasible thought,” Tom said, occasionally looking over at the serpentine companion while they continued down the hallway towards the grand staircase, it was then when it occurred to him that he had no idea where Semir was actually headed, “What are you up to?” He asked then.

Semir hesitated momentarily, working his lower lip for split second before raising his eyes back to Tom.

“I was actually hoping to speak to Andre about something, but-” he trailed off then and the vampire got all the more intrigued.

He stopped in his tracks and turned to Semir with a determined look in his eyes.

“If it’s in regards to your stay here, you can talk to me as well, Semir,” he promised.

When the Turk looked at him with uncertainty, Tom felt a bit stupid. They’ve only spent a short time together and Semir really had no reason to trust him as much as he trusted Andre with whom he spent far more time.

“I still don’t understand why does your clan wants to help me so much, aren’t you even a little bit intimidated after what happened the first night?” 

That was a good question, Tom had to admit that much. He could say for himself, finding a liking to Semir from their mutually shared hobbies and just clicking together right away. Of course, he felt wary in the Turk’s presence early on, but he trusted his brother’s good judgment. Andre never brought anyone to the manor without the intention to never have them leave alive.

But his brother made it clear the night he brought Semir’s unconscious form through the front door that he had no intention of killing him.

So, Tom figured Andre brought him here when he felt Semir could be of use to them, otherwise he wouldn’t be so determined to protect him. The Turk showed exceptional skill the first night that would definitely strengthen their clan’s power if used right.

“Well…” Tom began, picking his answer carefully in his head while Semir watched him expectantly, he needed to trust him at the end of the day.

“We’re friends, at least that’s how I see it,” he said truthfully. There was a look of surprise on Semir’s face, it was apparent he wasn’t expecting that answer and for a moment Tom was worried he didn’t say the right thing, but then a smile spread across the Turk’s lips.

“Friends?” He repeated with a short laugh, but there was no apparent mockery behind the expression, rather surprisingly, fondness, so Tom nodded.

“Yeah, friends, am I wrong?” He asked.

Semir quickly shook his head and his little companion proceeded to copy the gesture, her flat head moving from side to side slowly.

“No, no, I agree with you, I’m just taken aback a little bit, I wasn’t expecting to be accepted so quickly, especially by you,” he admitted sheepishly.

Tom quickly realized what he was referring to.

“That wall slam didn’t hurt me whatsoever, I’ve had punishments from my father as a child that hurt more than that,” he reassured the smaller man.

“What? Vampiric children get spanked just like human ones? You’re one surprise after another! I can’t imagine someone like Andre going through that childhood trauma we all went through,” Semir laughed.

“Oh he got whooped double, he could never get away with anything for the life of him,” Tom laughed along with him.

Their laughter echoed down the tall corridor until it eventually died down into snickers and sighs, they came to a stop at the bottom of the grand staircase and while Tom was still wiping away the remnants of their earlier entertainment from the corner of his eye, Semir’s gaze fell to his companion, the little serpentine head staring back at him, tilting to the side as if questioning its master.

It was then when Tom noticed the thing was much smaller than yesterday.

“The thing I needed to talk to Andre about-” Semir began and raised his eyes towards Tom once again, this time the joy morphed into a more serious expression and Tom waited expectantly for what he had to say.

“I need to get to a city morgue,”

\----

Andre sat in his car and tapped on the steering wheel impatiently. For the past hour his eyes were glued to the front door of the Bali club. Despite it being in the middle of the day, he could still feel the lingering paranoia that someone could be watching him. The area was heavily under Brujah’s control and although most of them had no idea what he looked like, he sat there long enough to draw curious eyes. At last, a figure emerged from the bar and Andre straightened up in his seat, feet already resting on the pedals as he was ready to get the hell out of there.

The man looked left and right before slowly opening the passenger door to Andre’s Audi and getting in, the car started up right after that and began to move.

“So?” Andre urged his passenger, looking around one more time before speeding off.

“You’re not gonna like this.”

“I’m not going to like you stalling it either, so talk, Frank” Andre snapped, the car barely stayed under the speeding limit the further they got away from the location.

Frank reached inside of his pocket and Andre glanced down to see what he pulled out.

Set of car keys.

“Your driver is one of the bartenders,” Frank said and tossed the keys on the dashboard, letting them slide down towards the windshield,” Found them in his locker along with used gloves and the dead guy’s driving license.”

Andre frowned.

“Did you overhear anything?” He pressed on, but Frank shook his head.

“Nothing specific, but it looks like it was a failed attempt at kidnapping. No other reason for them to do that.”

Andre stopped the car near a sidewalk once they were far enough, he looked over at his passenger feeling a lot more affected by the news than Frank seemed, but Andre knew he didn’t care about Semir’s safety in the slightest.

“Tell Eike and Jacob to stop by the manor tonight, I’ll have a word with everybody,” Andre informed him and once Frank gave him a brief affirmative shrug and shut the door, he sped off.  
So many concerning thoughts were running through his mind that he nearly forgot to make a turn and narrowly missed a collision, the other driver honking at him angrily, he ignored it.

The news wasn’t as surprising, but it was certainly grim. If they went through this much effort to grab his partner, not even the acknowledgment that Andre’s got him would stop them from trying again.

This just confirmed they were willing to do anything to get him.

And that could mean another major conflict between the two clans.

\---

“The morgue? Why?” Tom asked, he definitely wasn’t expecting that request.

“I need a soul, it’s been a week and the coldness is only a part of the symptoms,” Semir explained carefully,” I could wait another day, but the morgue is closed over the weekend and I’ve never gone this long-”

“You need souls to survive, of course….” Tom muttered and grabbed the back of his neck with the realization that they completely forgot to address that when they brought him in.

That was definitely a serious issue they had to address, but Tom also knew that he couldn’t let Semir go anywhere while Andre was gone and who knew when his brother would return…

“You could come with me if you want to make sure I’m not gonna do anything sketchy,” Semir offered, noticing Tom’s hesitancy.

“It’s more complicated than that, Semir...do you need to go to a morgue specifically? Is there no other place to get a soul?” Tom asked, hoping to find another option than doing exactly what Andre didn’t want him to do.

Semir thought about it, his little companion slithered up his arm then and wrapped around his shoulders instead.

“Well, there’s a hospital too but that’ll be so much more difficult, I’ve never managed to get a soul from a hospital before.” He admitted, unfortunately, “Look, I’ll be quick Tom, really, I do this every week, nothing’s going to go wrong. I could go alone, it’d be literally just a matter of half an hour,” he reassured.

“I can’t let you go alone,” Tom rejected the thought and upon getting a hurtful expression from the Turk, he quickly followed,” It’s too risky, especially if you’re weakened. We don’t know if you’re being watched.”

That didn’t seem to reassure Semir much.

“It’ll be even more dangerous if I’m incapable of finding the soul myself, neither you nor Andre would know what to do and the effects are already starting to set in, those two days could cost us more than taking the risk and just going for it.” He said firmly.

Tom exhaled and glanced at the front door worriedly, before looking back at Semir.

“I’m supposed to be watching you, this isn’t making that easy…” he muttered and Semir quickly grabbed his wrist then and the vampire looked down in surprise.

“I wouldn’t bring this up if it wasn’t important, you already convinced me to go along with whatever you wanted, but I can’t survive without souls.”

The pleading look in his eyes was extremely difficult to resist and it certainly didn’t help that Tom already felt far more fondness for the man before him than he was willing to admit out loud.

He sighed.

“Alright,”

The smile that reappeared on Semir’s lips was certainly sweet.

The thought of Andre killing him later on for letting Semir leave, not so much.

\-----

Andre waited in front of a skyscraper in the center of Cologne with his back against his car. He kept his gaze locked at figures moving by the large paned windows several floors above.

The businessmen and women walked around doing their thing without paying any attention to the vampire watching them until Andre saw a lone woman in a black dress suit approach the window and stare directly at him.

Once their eyes met, Andre stepped away from his car and headed to the front entrance of the building.

He fit in well enough with his taste for suits that nobody questioned his presence in the private lounge area and if any security guard approached him as he neared the offices, they quickly lost interest with one wave of his hand.

Soon, Andre walked down one of the luxurious corridors when he saw the same woman waiting for him ahead.

The attractive brunette looked him up and down as he came to a stop before her.

“I haven’t seen you in a long time, Andre, how’s the family?” She greeted him, but her hands remained across her chest and Andre felt no welcoming air about her.

“How’s yours after Brujah enslaved you?” He shot back, pleased to see the smile on her lips quickly dissolve.

She let out a huff of breath and brushed a stray hair from her shoulder.

“If you’re going to play smart with me you might as well turn around and leave again, I’m not the one who needs help,” Her words were sweet like honey, but with a bitter aftertaste. 

“I think you’re forgetting that you owe me,” Andre continued.

“Hardly when it’s the first thing you say to me after a decade,” she sniffed.

He took a step closer towards her, his eyes fixed firmly on hers and slowly but surely her confident demeanor crumbled and she looked away.

“Hate it when you use that Alpha crap on me, what do you need then, pretty boy?” She sighed.

“You’ve been hanging around Juniu, so you must have heard she’s looking for a guy,” Andre said, looking over her shoulder at the people moving by in the offices.

“Juniu looking for men? That’s a funny thought,” the woman chuckled,” She’s got all the men she needs at her feet, your father would know…”

“He feeds on souls,” Andre went on, ignoring her stabbing comment,” Any idea why would she plant corpses in our territory in order to grab him?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, she’d never do that,”

Andre frowned.

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure of it, the body was one of her thinbloods,”

The woman’s expression slowly shifted from disbelief to anger.

“Hers? Mine!” She spat, “You’ve got to be kidding me, how dare she!” She hissed and stalked over to the window. Andre remained several steps back, leaving her to ponder over that.

“Where’s the body?” She snapped.

“At the city morgue, drained of both blood and soul, you won’t be able to get it back,” He informed her.

She turned around and quickly approached him.

“I want to see it first before I start considering Brujah turned on us for their benefit,” She demanded.

“Should I take that as you knowing what Juniu wants to do with the soul eater after all?” He raised an eyebrow even as she stared daggers at him.

“I know enough,” She spat.

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Andre smirked.


End file.
